French conservative politician Marine Le Pen said on April 6 that she would peacefully fight against a five-year ban on her running for office, as thousands of people rallied to her cause in Paris.
She was sentenced to four years in prison, including two under house arrest and two suspended, and banned from public office for five years, effective immediately, which ruled out Le Pen’s standing in France’s 2027 presidential election unless she can get the sentence overturned within 18 months.
Le Pen supporters waved French flags and chanted “we will win” as they gathered in central Paris on the afternoon of April 6 for a peaceful protest of her conviction.
“We will follow Martin Luther King as an example,” Le Pen said in a video appearance for Italian Matteo Salvini’s anti-immigration Lega party, which was holding a meeting in Florence, Italy.
“Our fight will be a peaceful fight, a democratic fight. We will follow Martin Luther King, who defended civil rights, as an example.”
One protester, pensioner Marie-Claude Bonnefont, 79, said she was against “this parody of a decision against Le Pen.”
“One should really question the impartiality of the judges,” another attendee, political science student Typhaine Quere, told Reuters.
There was no immediate police estimate of attendance at the April 6 protest, but organizers said about 15,000 people had attended.
The court’s ruling was a massive blow for the 56-year-old National Rally chief, who has for years been one of France’s and Europe’s most prominent conservative figures.
She is also regularly among the front-runners in polls for France’s 2027 election.
Le Pen has appealed the court’s decision, and she promised on April 6 to use all legal means available to her to allow her to run in 2027.
The court has said it will issue a ruling on the appeal in the summer of next year.
Jordan Bardella, the 29-year-old president of the National Rally, who is seen by many as Le Pen’s heir, was also present at the rally and gave a speech accusing France’s judges of trying to silence the opposition.
“March 29 was a dark day for France. The people must be free to choose their leaders—without interference from political judges,” he said.
While he claimed the party would respect democracy, Bardella lambasted magistrates’ unions and warned of “a system determined to crush dissent.”
Supporters carried signs reading “Justice taking orders” and “Stop the judicial dictatorship,” while others wore “Je suis Marine” (“I am Marine”) shirts.
“If they can do this to her, what stops them from coming after anyone who doesn’t think like them?”
Across the city, at Place de la Republique, counter-demonstrators flocked to protest Le Pen’s criticisms of the French state.
Centrist politicians, including two former prime ministers, Gabriel Attal and Philippe, also gathered on Sunday to show a united front against the National Rally.
“Let us maintain this commitment to the morality of political life and to our institutions at a time when they are being challenged by the far right, which is gathering today to attack our judges, to attack our institutions,” Attal said.
The National Rally, which was known as the National Front from 1972 to 2018, is a right-wing populist and nationalist party.
Marine Le Pen’s father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, the party’s founder, died earlier this year at the age of 96 and was a controversial figure in French politics.
Marine Le Pen, who assumed leadership in 2012, has softened the image of the party while maintaining an anti-immigration stance.
