Marine Le Pen launches presidential campaign with vow to restore 'rule of law'

Far-right French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen kicked off her campaign before thousands of supporters at her first campaign rally in the city of Orléans.

Addressing thousands of supporters of her nationalist, anti-immigration party Rassemblement National RN (National Rally), she said she wanted to offer France "a alteration of course" which, in her words, is "not a revolutionary act but a normal breath of democratic life".

Le Pen is the current frontrunner in the polls, six months ahead of the vote. "No one thinks we are stronger today than we were yesterday, nor that after ten years of Emmanuel Macron we are walking through a field of rose petals," she said.

"Everyone in France agrees with us", Le Pen claimed.

She vowed to preserve France's cultural identity, from its language and traditions to its values and way of life, drawing cheers from supporters waving French flags.

'The rule of law is not the law against the state'

Among her priorities, should she win in May 2027, Le Pen is promising what she calls more security for French citizens. She denounced what she sees as the failings of the justice system under Emmanuel Macron, which she considers far too lax.

"Who can claim there is a rule of law when hordes come to ransack and burn our buildings, or carry out real raids in front of law-enforcement officers who have been deliberately disarmed, both materially and morally?" she said, referring to the looting and clashes of 17 October on the fringes of protests over the rising cost of living.

"The rule of law is not the law against the state," Marine Le Pen went on, promising "certainty" that cases will be brought and sentences carried out, as well as the expulsion of foreign offenders.

Defending her sovereigntist line, Marine Le Pen also argued for "national priority", saying she wanted to restore "a double border: French and European".

On the international front, without explicitly mentioning Ukraine, she vowed that France "will not send" its young people "to die in reckless or irresponsible military adventures, and even less in wars that are not ours".

Jordan Bardella blames LFI for 'fanning the flames of insurrection'

Leading up to Marine Le Pen's speech, in which she wanted to "rise above the fray", The National Rally's president, Jordan Bardella, introduced her on stage, openly attacking the government and revisiting the week's explosive news.

"The French have seen a power that has fallen, that has given up, that has abdicated even the idea of protecting our compatriots," he said, condemning the violence that broke out on the sidelines of the social movement.

According to the RN president, his party "has appeared as the only option capable of restoring order and bringing back authority". As the crowd gathered at the Orléans convention centre chanted "Macron, resign", he replied: "Don't worry, he won't be long before he is going, it's planned and it's coming soon".

Jordan Bardella also took aim at La France Insoumise (France Unbowed), or LFI, and the party's leader, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who backs the high school students' movement and the social mobilisation generally, accusing the hard-left party of "fanning the flames of insurrection", which in his view disqualifies LFI "from aspiring to the highest offices of the state".

Start of Jordan Bardella's speech disrupted

His speech was briefly interrupted by members of a Jewish student union who unfurled a banner referencing a French media report alleging he had deleted antisemitic messages from an old Facebook account.

Jordan Bardella then called on people "not to give publicity to the far left, which hates democracy".

"While the security services do their job, I am asking you to sing the Marseillaise," he went on.

The circumstances of the incident were not immediately clear. Later, the Union of French Jewish Students (UEJF) posted a message on X, confirming that activists from the organisation had unfurled the banner, which read: "Bardella re-elected: racism and antisemitism do not bother the RN, quite the opposite."

This protest referred to Mediapart revelations concerning antisemitic messages attributed to Jordan Bardella when he was 18. He rejects the accusations.

Le Pen on the campaign trail, Bardella in charge of the party

The Orléans rally took place the day after the National Rally congress, held under heavy police protection, at which Jordan Bardella was confirmed as party leader.

Bardella, the sole candidate for his post, was re-elected president of the National Rally with 98.98% of the vote. For a time he had been tipped to run for the French presidency himself, if Marine Le Pen's conviction in the case of misuse of funds for European parliamentary assistants had prevented her from standing.

His re-election formalises the division of roles within the duo presented to voters as a "winning ticket": Marine Le Pen is being launched in the presidential race, while Jordan Bardella, strengthened at the helm of the RN, is positioning himself to become her prime minister in the event of victory.

Another takeaway from the congress: Marine Le Pen has given up chairing the RN group in the National Assembly, in order to focus on the presidential campaign. MP Sébastien Chenu, one of her close allies, is taking over the role.

'It is the only party we have not tried yet'

According to the organisers, the rally was attended by 8,500 of the party's supporters.

"I'm here because I vote for Marine Le Pen. I've wanted her to become president for a very long time, because in my view the country is doing very badly today and I think she's the only one who can turn it around," said Karine, a RN supporter, speaking to Euronews before the rally began.

Among her priorities, she lists security, jobs and housing, all issues which she believes "keep the country going". She says she understands "young people's distress" but deplores their "behaviour", criticising the excesses on the sidelines of demonstrations over the cost of living.

Another attendee also stressed security and purchasing power. "We are here to represent our country, France, to represent both the youngest and the oldest," he explains, before summing up his choice: "In any case, it's the only party we haven't tried yet, so we want to try it."

'Some would have preferred you not to come'

"Some would have preferred you not to come," Marine Le Pen wrote on X, addressing her supporters, while welcoming the atmosphere at the Zénith Centre in Orléans.

Elsewhere in the country, the most recent round of protests against the high cost of living, rising fuel prices and lack of funding for education brought between 410,000 and 800,000 people onto the streets. While the demonstrations were largely peaceful, clashes broke out sporadically at the end of the marches, with 1,314 people arrested.

On Saturday morning, a demonstration organised by several trade unions and left-wing parties against the congress peacefully brought together 13,000 people, according to the local council, and 26,000 according to the organisers.

On Sunday, police were carrying out checks on vehicles at the entrance to Orléans. A small unauthorised march, bringing together a few dozen people, tried to reach the convention centre, chanting anti-fascist slogans.

According to the council of the Centre-Val de Loire region and the Loiret county, 3,000 members of the security forces and emergency services were deployed in Orléans over the weekend to maintain order.

Trade unions and yellow vest protesters have pledged to continue their demonstrations in the coming weeks, pointing to a period of heightened tensions in the run-up to the presidential election.

Marine Le Pen, for her part, has accused Emmanuel Macron's government of lacking authority and of "denying reality" in the face of the violence that erupted on 17 October.