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A leftist candidate backed by an array of political parties successfully staved off his far-right opponent in a mayoral race Sunday that the National Front had hope would start its comeback. Other parties, from communists to President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservatives, rallied behind Daniel Duquenne whom voters designated the new mayor of Henin-Beaumont, a former mining town in northern France, in a runoff race. The victor was sprayed with tear gas minutes after the results were announced, a police officer said by telephone, confirming reports on France-Info radio and the French TV station iTele. Duquenne was not injured and the aggressor...

The National Front, the French anti-immigration party, is selling its historic headquarters to a Chinese university to raise cash, the party’s leader, Jean-Marie Le Pen, left, was quoted on Monday as saying. Mr. Le Pen, whose slogan in several presidential campaigns was “Keep France for the French,” confounded predictions by reaching the runoff in the 2002 presidential election. But stinging defeats in last year’s parliamentary vote have left the party deep in the red. The magazine L’Express said on its Web site that Mr. Le Pen believed that the university, which he did not name, wanted to turn the building,...

Le Pen: Auschwitz didn't have gas chambers Extreme right-wing leader repeats claim that no Jews were gassed or burned at Nazi death camps, says Auschwitz inmates worked as laborers for factory Far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen sparked a chorus of outrage in France on Friday by repeating an incendiary claim that the Nazi gas chambers were a "detail of history." Anti-racism and Jewish groups threatened immediate legal action against the National Front chief - who already holds several similar convictions - after he made the comments in a magazine interview. "I said the gas chambers were a detail of...

Excerpt - PARIS: A French court gave far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen a three-month suspended prison sentence on Friday and fined him 10,000 euros (7,250 pounds) for saying that the Nazi occupation of France was "not particularly inhumane". Le Pen was found guilty of "justification of war crimes" and "contesting crimes against humanity" in the trial which opened in December. It centred around a comment Le Pen made in a 2005 interview with right-wing weekly magazine Rivarol, which angered the government, anti-racism organisations and Jewish groups. The prosecution had requested that Le Pen be handed a five-month suspended sentence and...

During the first round of France's presidential election, Laurence Ribeaucourt had the surprise of her political life. A social worker and local councillor in a poor suburb north-east of Paris, she was monitoring the vote and the last place she expected to see the deprived youths she had cared over the years for was a polling station.

FRENCH FAR-RIGHT LEADER CALLS ON SUPPORTERS TO ABSTAIN FROM VOTE French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen called on his supporters Tuesday to abstain en masse from voting in Sunday's presidential election. Le Pen said neither socialist candidate Segolene Royal nor rightwinger Nicolas Sarkozy deserved the support of the 3.8 million voters who backed him in the first round of voting. "I call on voters who have shown their confidence in me to cast their vote neither for Madame Royal nor for Mr Sarkozy and to abstain en masse," said Le Pen, who came fourth in round one with 10.44 percent...

from The London Telegraph: Le Pen urges supporters to abstain By Henry Samuel in Paris Last Updated: 12:36pm BST 01/05/2007 Jean-Marie Le Pen called on his supporters today to abstain in Sunday’s vote for the French presidency and to hold their fire for elections to the National Assembly, the country’s parliament, next month. The Front National leader, who came fourth in the first round of voting last month, said: “We should take no responsibility for the choice on 6 May.” He said that it would be an illusion to vote for Socialist candidate Segolene Royal “simply to avenge the hold-up...

In his annual rally on May 1, Jean-Marie le Pen called on his followers to stay home en masse, and not vote on Election Day

This vacuum in Paris plays straight into le Pen's hands Next week's presidential elections will confirm what many Europeans fear, that France is moving inexorably to the right Will Hutton Sunday April 15, 2007 The Observer (UK) Nicolas Sarkozy, the front runner for the French presidency, has suggested that paedophilia is an incurable genetic disposition, that rioting Arab youths are scum and that an Orwellian sounding ministry for immigration and national identity is a good idea. Segolene Royal, his socialist challenger, wants the French to celebrate family, work and the flag. And on Friday, a suppressed official poll suggested that...

Sarkozy 'has secret deal with Le Pen' By Henry Samuel in Paris Last Updated: 1:46am BST 14/04/2007 Nicolas Sarkozy, the French presidential front-runner, fended off allegations yesterday that he was plotting to form a secret pact with Jean-Marie Le Pen, the far-Right leader. The latest polls put Mr Sarkozy firmly in the lead With the first round of presidential polls looming a week tomorrow, Mr Sarkozy has been accused of seeking the votes of Mr Le Pen's supporters in the second round next month. The veteran National Front leader is not expected to get beyond the first round and his...

Three weeks from the first round of voting in the French presidential election, interest at home and abroad is at an all-time high. France still carries exceptional weight in Europe and plays a pivotal role in major international conflicts—not always for good. French diplomacy was instrumental in a resolution of last summer’s Hezbollah war, which shifted the balance of power in Iran’s favor; France argued convincingly for resumption of normal relations between the EU and the Palestinian Authority’s Hamas-Fatah coalition; France is undermining UN sanctions against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s nuclear-hungry Iran. And France, with Europe’s largest Muslim population, is struggling with...

Le Pen gains as French presidential campaign starts By Anna Willard Mon Apr 9, 3:33 PM ET PARIS (Reuters) - France's presidential election campaign officially began on Monday and a new poll showed gains for the right-wing frontrunner Nicolas Sarkozy and for far-right candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen. ADVERTISEMENT The 12 hopefuls unveiled new television and radio spots in line with strict election rules, trying to win the support of the large number of undecided voters ahead of the first-round vote on April 22. Sarkozy has extended his comfortable lead over his main rival, Socialist Segolene Royal, an LH2 poll for...

PARIS - The Socialist French presidential candidate Segolene Royal introduces herself as a mother of four who has skillfully juggled family and career. The conservative contender, Nicolas Sarkozy, presents himself as a bold reformer determined to break with the policies of the past. The French presidential campaign entered its final phase Monday with a series of carefully choreographed TV and radio spots by candidates pitching themselves to undecided voters — nearly half the French electorate. The first round of voting is two weeks away. Polls indicate Sarkozy is the front-runner for the April 22 vote, followed by Royal. Francois Bayrou,...

A small but significant minority of French Muslims intend to vote for Jean-Marie Le Pen, the far-Right National Front leader in this month's presidential elections - a remarkable achievement for the politician known for his anti-immigrant stance. Some of the country's five million Muslims are not keen for a new wave of immigrants to arrive. They also support Le Pen's anti-American rhetoric and his publicised "friendship" with the people of Iraq. Others are attracted by his traditional stand on moral issues such as abortion, family or restoring the death penalty. Abdallah Bourakba, 54, is a divorced father of three whose...

To become a candidate at least 500 signed forms are needed At least 11 candidates are set to run in the French presidential election.As the deadline for registration passed, anti-globalisation farmer Jose Bove said he was not sure if he had enough signatures to become the 12th. At least 500 signatures from elected officials are needed to run in the first round on 22 April. More than 20 politicians have been campaigning in the race. Centre-right leader Nicolas Sarkozy and Socialist leader Segolene Royal are frontrunners. A record 16 candidates were on the ballot in the last election, in...

Mr Le Pen will hand over his 500 signatures later on Wednesday France's far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen has collected the 500 sponsor signatures he needs to run in April's presidential election, his party says.The leader of the National Front will submit the 500 signatures to the Constitutional Council himself later on Wednesday, the AFP news agency reports. Every candidate must be endorsed by at least 500 elected officials to stand, and has until Friday to do so. Most of the 42,000 elected officials entitled to sign are mayors. Last week, the front-runner for next month's presidential election, centre-right...

French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen has dismissed the September 11, 2001 attacks as an "incident", saying the death toll of 3 000 was equal to the number of people killed in Iraq in a month. Le Pen made the comment in an interview published on Wednesday with the Catholic newspaper La Croix during which he praised Islamic leaders for condemning the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. "The September 11 event, or one could say incident, prompted a certain number of people to distance themselves (from Islamic extremism) to avoid falling under the barrage of accusations...

No longer a joke – France is having to take Le Pen's threat seriously By Henry Samuel Last Updated: 1:56am GMT 15/11/2006 Besides his penchant for champagne and singing outmoded French songs, far-Right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen is known to like a practical joke. So when he strode purposefully out of his private office at the National Front's presidential convention outside Paris this weekend towards the press tent, camera crews in tow, nobody seemed overly surprised when he veered off at the last minute into the lavatory. Jean-Marie Le Pen National Front leader, Jean-Marie Le Pen, at his party presidential...

No longer a joke ? France is having to take Le Pen's threat seriously By Henry Samuel Last Updated: 1:03am GMT 13/11/2006 Besides his penchant for champagne and singing outmoded French songs, far-Right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen is known to like a practical joke. So when he strode purposefully out of his private office at the National Front's presidential convention outside Paris this weekend towards the press tent, camera crews in tow, nobody seemed overly surprised when he veered off at the last minute into the lavatory. National Front leader, Jean-Marie Le Pen, at his party presidential convention in Le...

The far-Right leader is benefiting from ghetto violence in the race for the presidencyAged 78 but bursting for a new fight, Jean-Marie Le Pen, the leader of the far Right in France, yesterday savoured news that shook the main parties in the race for the presidency next spring: he is enjoying a surge of popularity. A poll by the CSA institute showed that 17 per cent of voters supported the chief of the National Front. This is eight points higher than the same period before the 2002 election, in which M Le Pen shocked Europe by coming second to Jacques...

Turf-conscious bloggers in Paris' rundown, mostly Muslim, suburban immigrant housing estates rival in violent messages threatening to beat senseless and even kill any intruder caught in "our ghetto." Almost every word is misspelled, in both argot slang and pidgin French. These are not empty threats. An average of 14 policemen a day are injured in bloody clashes with jobless youths. France's Interior Ministry said 2,500 police officers had been "wounded" this year. The head of the hard-line trade union "Action Police" Michel Thooris wrote to Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy to describe conditions in housing developments turned slums as "intifada." Police...

In 2002, far-right candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen managed 17 percent of the vote. This time around, he may do even better -- partly because of his charismatic, attractive daughter Marine. She's steering the party away from skinheads and toward the French countryside. After clearing the plates, the waiters are serving the dessert, a fruit tart, after a dinner of vol-au-vent and beef bourguignon. The air is warm and humid in the banquet room of the "Relais du Miel" in Montargis, a small city only two hours south of Paris by car, where 220 guests are sipping coffee and after-dinner drinks....

PARIS (EJP)--- France’s extreme-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen will stand trial for comments he made last year when he said that the Nazi occupation of France had not been "particularly inhumane."

PARIS - French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen has been ordered to stand trial for comments denying the brutality of the Nazi occupation of France during World War II, judicial officials said on Wednesday. Le Pen is under investigation for "justifying war crimes" and "complicity in contesting crimes against humanity." He could appeal the two separate rulings ordering him to stand trial, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity. In January 2005, the National Front leader gave an interview to the small, extreme-right newspaper, Rivarol. He was quoted as saying: "In France at least, the German occupation...

This interview appears at the new Occidentalis Blog. The interview was conducted by David Reinharc for Israel Magazine. The image is from Journaux DR - We are familiar with the way Le Pen tripped himself up on the Shoah and with his complacent attitude toward holocaust deniers. What is your position with regard to these "assassins of memory" and should those self-proclaimed historians be punished?PDV - I am, as you know, the son of a man who earned the Resistance Medal, a man who was imprisoned and tortured by the Nazis at Lübeck. Holocaust denial is an abomination and of...

As the French government tears itself apart amid a trumped-up corruption scandal, and the socialist opposition fails to capitalise on the chaos, Jean-Marie Le Pen, leader of the far-Right National Front (FN), has gained record levels of support - without saying a word in public. According to a survey in the news magazine Le Point last week, 22 per cent of the French population has a "favourable opinion" of Mr Le Pen - up five per cent from the previous month. The rating is far higher than the 16 per cent popularity which Mr Le Pen scored in polls four...

France’s highest court today convicted far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen of inciting racial hatred for telling a newspaper in 2003 that Muslims would one day run France and strike fear into the hearts of the non-Muslim population. The ruling by the Court of Cassation came just over two years after Le Pen was originally convicted in the same case. In February 2005, an appeals court confirmed the 2004 ruling against the president of the National Front party. Le Pen was ordered to pay a €10,000 fine for his remarks in the daily Le Monde and an additional €5,000 in interest...

PARIS -- European governments, facing an immigration debate much like that in the United States, are pulling in the welcome mat, especially for low-skilled, illegal aliens from Africa and other developing regions. Increasingly, governments are introducing immigration tests and other devices to screen out all but the brightest and most qualified in the face of rising anti-immigration sentiments -- despite having an aging population that leaves many European countries in need of new workers to bankroll their welfare states. "There is a general trend toward regulation and restricting immigration and asylum seekers in particular," said Daniele Joly, a specialist on...

Le Pen says anti-immigrant views gaining in France Mon May 1, 2006 11:11 AM ET By Gerard Bon PARIS (Reuters) - Veteran French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen launched his 2007 presidential bid on Monday declaring his anti-immigrant views were gaining ground and that government scandals showed France was now a "banana republic". Le Pen, who shocked France by coming second in the 2002 race against President Jacques Chirac, told a rally outside the Paris Opera that the tough stand on immigration taken by his right-wing rivals showed strong public support for a crackdown. He spoke one day before Interior...

IN PARIS A FAR-right French politician launched his 2007 presidential campaign yesterday by declaring Islam incompatible with France's secular values. Philippe de Villiers, head of the anti-immigrant Movement for France (MPF) party, also charged that Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport was endangered by Islamist radicals, who he claimed had infiltrated the ground staff. Mr Villiers has stirred up controversy in recent weeks with increasingly tough statements about Muslims, which critics call racist and officials describe as exaggerated. France's five million Muslims make up the largest such minority in Europe. "I am the only politician who tells the French the truth...

France's far-right political party, the National Front, has emerged stronger than ever from the civil unrest that has plagued the country in the past six months, a new survey shows, suggesting that the party could play a major role in the presidential election next year. The National Front's outspoken and vehemently anti-immigration leader, Jean-Marie Le Pen, has had occasional bursts of support before: four years ago, he made it to the runoff for president, losing to Jacques Chirac. But after riots by second-generation immigrant youth last fall, Mr. Le Pen's approval rating in polls surged five percentage points, to 21...

It looks like a political oxymoron, but Jean-Marie Le Pen's National Front is poised to strike an alliance with France's large immigrant Muslim community. A generation after France's right-wing party began its surge with a tough anti-immigration campaign tinged with both racism and anti-Semitism, three factors are coming into play that could spell a strategic realignment. These factors, which are still little grasped outside political circles in France but will have an enormous impact, include: * The Islamicization of France is largely a fait accompli. It is assumed that 6 to 8 million citizens or residents of France, 10% to...

It looks like a political oxymoron, but Jean-Marie Le Pen's National Front is poised to strike an alliance with France's large immigrant Muslim community. A generation after France's right-wing party began its surge with a tough anti-immigration campaign tinged with both racism and anti-Semitism, three factors are coming into play that could spell a strategic realignment.

French anti-racist organizations are planning to sue Jean-Marie Le Pen, the French extreme-right party leader after he again dismissed the Nazi gas chambers as “a detail”. Le Pen made the renewed comments during an interview on the BBC’s Hardtalk show which focused on the recent riots in France’s suburbs. He had originally caused anger amongst Jews and anti-racism campaigners alike when he first made a similar comment in 1987. Mere detail During the one-on-one interview Stephen Sackur, the show’s host, recalled that less than a year ago Le Pen “described the Nazi occupation of France as ’not particularly inhuman’"...

A strange thing is going on in France. Politicians are positioning themselves for the 2007 presidential elections when the French will have to chose a successor for Jacques Chirac. It is not in the mold of the repulsive and corrupt Chirac, however, that the contenders want to present themselves, but in that of Jean-Marie Le Pen. I met Le Pen twenty years ago at an international press conference that the Front National leader was giving in Brussels. He made quite an impression. The mainstream media were very hostile to Le Pen (they still are), which made me instinctively sympathise with...

Support to Le Pen´s National Front Party increases as riots still go on In an AP intrerview, Le Pen said people with immigrant backgrounds who commit crimes should be sent "back to their country of origin." If they are French, they should be stripped of their nationality, he added. Once the flames, if not the anger, recede in France's riot-hit suburbs, a next big challenge for the weakened middle ground of French politics will be beating back far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, for whom the violence could prove an electoral gift. Already, the anti-immigration zealot who gave France and Europe...

Paris — Authorities imposed curfews in the French Riviera cities of Nice and Cannes on Wednesday to prevent rioting, while the interior minister called for the deportation of foreigners convicted in the wave of unrest that has spread throughout France. Looters and vandals defied a state of emergency with attacks on superstores, a newspaper warehouse and a subway station. Arson attacks continued after sundown, with a nursery school going up in flames in the southern city of Toulouse, RTL radio reported. The unrest began Oct. 27 and has grown into a nationwide insurrection by disillusioned suburban youths who complain of...

On Drudge Now. LePen says the French riots are just the start of immigrant riots across Europe. Calls for deportations. Says his party can't keep up with all the new members and phone calls of support. Says he is definitely running for Prez. and that his chances of victory have just incresed ten fold.His views have been vindicated as correct, not extreme.

PARIS French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen claimed Wednesday his National Front party has been "submerged" with prospective members and supportive e-mail since rioting erupted in heavily immigrant communities near Paris. In an interview with The Associated Press, Le Pen described the recent violence as "just the start" of conflicts caused by "massive immigration from countries of the Third World that is threatening not just France but the whole continent." Le Pen said people with immigrant backgrounds who commit crimes should be stripped of their French nationality and sent "back to their country of origin." Reminded that the vast majority...

This article originally appeared as a "Letter From Europe" in the September 7, 1985, issue. PRINT THIS ARTICLE EMAIL THIS ARTICLE WRITE TO THE EDITORS TAKE ACTION NOW SUBSCRIBE TO THE NATION Paris History, pace Hegel and Marx, need not repeat itself as farce. When the French right blames bloody immigrants and the Reds in the Mitterrand government for growing unemployment, memories of the 1930s send shivers down the spine. Admittedly, the jobless are not as numerous today as they were then and their fate is not quite the same. There are also some encouraging signs of reaction on the...

French socialists have refused to attend a meeting of national political leaders on Europe's future, in protest against the presence of far right representatives from the National Front. The consultation on "European perspectives after the 29 May 2005 referendum" - the date of the French rejection of the EU Constitution - was organised by prime minister Dominique de Villepin. Amongst other things, economic harmonisation within the euro group and the creation of European high technology centres were to be discussed. Socialist leader Francois Hollande said that by including the National Front in the meeting, Mr Villepin was contributing to the...

Forgive me for making a blunt and obvious point, but events in Western Europe are slowly discrediting large swaths of American liberalism. Most of the policy ideas advocated by American liberals have already been enacted in Europe: generous welfare measures, ample labor protections, highly progressive tax rates, single-payer health care systems, zoning restrictions to limit big retailers, and cradle-to-grave middle-class subsidies supporting everything from child care to pension security. And yet far from thriving, continental Europe has endured a lost decade of relative decline. Western Europeans seem to be suffering a crisis of confidence. Election results, whether in North Rhine-Westphalia...

January 27, 2004 Up By Law France's misguided effort to legislate values Michael Young Paris—In France, remembrance today of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz camp has taken on a particularly sharp coloring, given the responsibility of the Vichy regime in sending many of its own Jews to the vast killing mill in southern Poland; but also because of mounting accusations more recently that anti-Semitism is on the increase in France. It was expected, therefore, that the president of France's far-right National Front, Jean-Marie Le Pen, would piss into the commemorative soup by telling the revisionist...

The French seem to take intermittent pride in being the homeland of the satirist Voltaire. Although he spent much of his life exiled from Paris for criticizing the government, he died a hero in the city, celebrated by tens of thousands in the streets on the eve of his return, which was also, coincidentally, the day before he died. After his death, the nation went so far as to remove the philosopher's heart and brain as symbolic keepsakes. Before eventually being moved to the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, his heart was kept in a room he once occupied with the...

French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen has condemned the outcry over his controversial remarks on the Nazi occupation of France. Mr Le Pen, who reportedly said the occupation was "not especially inhumane", said it was "scandalous" he was not free to air his views. A criminal investigation has been ordered into the comments, which were made in the far-right paper Rivarol. Mr Le Pen denounced the "political control of thought" in France. He told RTL radio: "It is rather scandalous that, 60 years later, one cannot express oneself in a coherent and calm way on these subjects and freely pass...

PARIS, Jan 12 (Reuters) - France threatened on Wednesday to take legal action against far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen for saying the Nazi occupation of France during World War Two had not been "particularly inhumane." The government, anti-racism organisations and Jewish groups sharply condemned Le Pen's latest controversial comments, made in an interview with right-wing weekly magazine Rivarol. "It's not only the European Union and globalisation we have to free our country of. It's also the lies about its history, lies that are protected by exceptional measures," Le Pen said in comments published in Rivarol's Jan. 7 edition. "In France,...

It was autumn 1996. Four men were sitting around me in a central London pub. Little distinguished them from the passing commuters. Other than their baseball caps, jailbird tattoos, or talk of white revolution, they might have been just about anyone. Those four men were the leaders of a notorious neo-nazi gang called Combat 18 - the 1 and 8 in the name signify the position of “A” and “H” ("Adolf Hitler") in the alphabet. The gang was connected to Loyalist paramilitaries in Northern Ireland, a violent “white power” music scene, numerous football hooligan “firms”, and the British National Party...

PARIS, April 27 (AFP) - French extremist politician Jean-Marie Le Pen said Tuesday he was mulling the formation of an alliance with other far-right parties in the European Parliament after elections in June. Le Pen, leader of the National Front (FN) party known for its radical anti-immigration stance, made a visit at the weekend to Wales to support his political counterpart in Britain, the fringe British National Party. The FN holds only five seats in the European Parliament, the EU body which is elected by popular vote and currently has 625 deputies. The party halved its numbers in the last...

PROTESTERS threw eggs at far-Right French leader Jean-Marie Le Pen yesterday as he travelled to northwest England to show his support for the British National Party. People hurled rubbish bins at his car as he left a Manchester hotel, where he endorsed the extreme-Right BNP, which shares the anti-immigration stance of his own National Front (FN) party. Police and security officers protected the firebrand FN founder inside his vehicle as he tried to slip by the protesters, Britain's Press Association news agency reported. Mr Le Pen later attended a BNP dinner in his honour in Wales, after the venue was...

MANCHESTER, England -- Angry demonstrators emptied a garbage can on the car of French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen on Sunday after he spoke in support of the anti-immigration British National Party. Shouting "Nazi scum, off our streets!" about 100 demonstrators slowed Le Pen's car as he tried to leave a hotel in Altrincham on the outskirts of the northern city of Manchester. Le Pen, who has been convicted of racism and anti-Semitism at least six times in France, was appearing at two British National Party events Sunday despite some demands that he be barred from the country. At a...