When he announced his candidacy for the Elysée ("To save France and its values threatened by immigration and Islam") some polls even gave him in front of Marine Le Pen, the favorite to go to the presidential ballot against Emmanuel Macron. It is down slightly now, but Eric Zemmour is certainly the new face of the French far right.
The former TV polemicist, who announced his 2022 presidential candidacy last November 30, today held his first major electoral rally in front of thousands of militants who arrived at the Palais des Expositions in Villepinte, a suburb north of Paris.
An event marked by moments of high tension. Shortly before taking the stage, the 63-year-old candidate was yanked by an individual who according to BfmTv already has a precedent. Sparks also during Zemmour's speech, when scuffles and chairs were thrown into the air between anti-racist activists and some far-right militants at the back of the room. At least two people had bloody faces after the clashes, including a militant from Sos Racisme.
In Paris, about 2,200 people marched against the descent into the field of the anti-Islam and anti-migrant candidate, already twice condemned for inciting racial hatred.
The leader of the newborn political movement "Reconquete", Riconquista (a clear historical reference to the "Spanish Reconquista on Muslim domination"), entered the scene in front of the 15,000 present in the room in mid-afternoon, greeted by ovations and a riot of French flags .
"If I win this election, it will not be the umpteenth alternation but the beginning of the reconquest", he assured, addressing the audience made up of many young people, almost all white. “The French people - he continued - have been here for a thousand years. And he didn't say the last word. "
The speech, about an hour, was almost entirely focused on identity issues: "I'm not a racist, I want to defend our identity", he said, also rejecting the accusations of fascism ("But do me the favor ..." ).
Then he thundered again against the migratory flows that “threaten the country”, according to the controversial theory of “grand remplacement”, that is to say the replacement of “white” France with French of foreign origin. "Zero immigration will become a clear objective of our policy," he said.
Zemmour promises the abolition of the Ius soli and the systematic expulsion "of all illegal immigrants in the area". "Before next summer - he said - I want to limit the right of asylum to a handful of individuals", assuring, however, that I want to "reach out to those Muslims who want to become our brothers by assimilating into our society".
Former journalist and talk show polemicist, literally obsessed with migrants and identity issues, Zemmour also talked about something else. He promised to reindustrialize France and, while not calling for an exit from the EU, he harshly criticized the European Union, also announcing that if elected he will leave Paris from the integrated command of NATO.
(Unioneonline / L)
