Thousands at French march as National Front considers its future

Pensioner Alain Michel was one of the thousands of supporters of France's far-right National Front to come out and march on Friday at the group's annual Joan of Arc rally, celebrating a Catholic woman who won victory for France over foreign invaders.

"We need to defend the values of our country," said the former car rental agent from Pau, in the south of France, as people in the crowd lit coloured flares, creating plumes of red, white and blue smoke - the colours of the French flag. "We need to stop the islamisation of France and of Europe."

The annual May 1 parade, started nearly 30 years ago by firebrand party founder Jean-Marie Le Pen, was originally set up in defiance both of the republic's secular symbol, Marianne, and of protesting communist workers. It is representative of the old guard and Catholic roots of the party.

This year the parade comes at a sensitive time, with Mr Le Pen's daughter and now party leader Marine aggressively attempting to "sanitise" the movement, trying to shift away from the old anti-immigration and ethnic-based rhetoric and focus on economic nationalism and secular republican values.

"This is a moment when the FN is facing two ways," says Jim Shields, professor of French politics at Aston University. "[It is] appealing to its nationalist base on the right while courting support among economically challenged sections of the traditional left."

Last month Ms Le Pen publicly distanced herself from her 86-year-old father, demanding he withdraw his candidacy in the upcoming regional elections after he made comments that the gas chambers in the second world war were "a detail" of history.

She accused him of a strategy "somewhere between scorched earth and political suicide". On Monday, a party meeting will decide whether to impose sanctions on Mr Le Pen, in what could mark a further break from the past.

Ms Le Pen's strategy appears to be working. The party attracted about a quarter of the votes in France's March local elections, ahead of the ruling socialist party. Some polls forecast that she could beat President Francois Hollande in the second round of the presidential elections in 2017.

But the march on Friday, attended by both father and daughter, highlighted the enduring power of the old guard in the party's rank and file, and the fine line Ms Le Pen will have to walk to attract new working-class voters without alienating the old party faithful.

The rally began under grey skies with hearty renditions of La Marseillaise, the French revolutionary national anthem, and a republican symbol. But within half and hour some parts of the crowd were chanting repeatedly "go back home", in reference to immigrants in France.

Others were shouting "long live ham sandwiches", which has political connotations in France. The jambon beurre, as it is called, is a proud French national meal, but crucially one made of pork and so forbidden to many Muslims and Jews.

Speaking before the rally started, Gerard Morel, 60, a former builder from the small town of Rambervillers in eastern France, who is now living on disability benefits, said he had travelled 400km and wanted to show his support after 30 years in the party.

"We are led by idiots, the system stinks. We need to give power back to the citizens. And Europe stinks as well, it is led by Jews. It is all lies."

Ms Le Pen, in her hour-long speech interrupted at the start by topless feminist protesters, attempted to steer a course between two visions what the National Front should stand for.

She criticised the "failure of the euro", the "war of big finance against the real economy", the "privatisation of the public sector" and the sale of French companies to foreigners.

But she also won the biggest applause when she talked about the "explosion of clandestine immigration from Africa". As she spoke her father Mr Le Pen was sitting behind her, present but not allowed to speak.

Three journalists from TV station Canal Plus claimed that they were abused by Front National militants and then expelled from the rally, showing again the difficult task of sanitising the movement.

But there were new voices in the party as well. Rami Ziyad, 20, from the Paris region said he had been a supporter for only a few months, but liked the economic message: "The most important issue is the economy. The FN is the only party looking out for all the French."

James Rose, 25, who had come from Lyon, said: "Jean-Marie is too old to represent the population now, the party has evolved. The economy is the really important issue at the moment."

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