Orléans fills against Le Pen’s congress

About 50 political parties, trade unions and associations called the protest against what they described as “racism, fascism and imperialism,” according to Euronews. Bally Bagayoko, the La France insoumise mayor of Saint-Denis, joined the march alongside Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure and CGT chief Sophie Binet. Authorities had expected between 20,000 and 30,000 demonstrators.

The security posture around the city made clear that this was not being treated as a routine show of opposition. Euronews reported that nearly 3,000 police officers and gendarmes were deployed across Orléans, with armoured vehicles, helicopters and drones also mobilised. Some businesses boarded up their windows, public transport was suspended, and the city’s mayor, Serge Grouard, introduced a nighttime curfew for children under 15 during the weekend.

That is an extraordinary amount of force around a party congress and the protest shadowing it. It suggests not just anxiety about disorder, but about political confrontation itself: the expectation that a far-right rally and a mass anti-far-right demonstration now meet under something closer to siege conditions.

Bagayoko, on arrival in Orléans, said: “We have come to tell the far right, looking them straight in the eye, that we are not afraid.” He rejected suggestions that demonstrators were seeking violence, saying they were defending freedom and democratic values. He also accused the far right of spreading hateful rhetoric and criticised President Emmanuel Macron for failing to do enough to prevent the rise of the National Rally.

The demonstration came amid heightened tensions after a deadly attack in Trappes, west of Paris, which left one person dead and five others injured. Euronews said authorities were investigating an alleged racist motive. Bagayoko drew a connection between hateful rhetoric, particularly on social media, and the attack. That is a political argument, not a finding in the criminal investigation, but it helps explain why this march carried more charge than a standard congress-side protest.

Inside the congress, the National Rally expected thousands of supporters at its two-day gathering, where party president Jordan Bardella was expected to secure another term as leader. The event is due to culminate with a major rally marking the launch of Le Pen’s campaign for the 2027 presidential election.

A party congress is usually stagecraft: disciplined applause, leadership rituals, the performance of momentum. In Orléans, the counter-image was impossible to ignore.