Paris, France. Last minute campaign stops by both sides in France’s 2017 Presedential election underlined a close race, with the Macron side flirting with the dirty side of politics, trying to sling mud to preserve a lead rapidly shrinking in the final moments of the campaign.
Paris has seen large turnouts for parades from rival political rallies six days before the second round of the French presidential vote. Marine Le Pen and establishment “momma’s boy” Emmanuel Macron held rallies in the French capital at the same time as nationwide May Day union marches.
Nine thousand plus French police officers were expected to be on the streets in Paris to cope with other rallies by anti-fascist groups, those who reject both candidates competed with each other for their points to be made ahead of the final round in election 2017.
Macron went out of his way to pay tribute to a Moroccan man Brahim Bourram, 29, who was thrown to his death in the Seine River on the sidelines of a National Front march held on 1 May 1995 to honour Joan of Arc.
Mr Bourram was pushed off a bridge by a group of skinheads who broke away from the march, that actually had nothing to do with the National Front itself, but provides an unsettling example of the sleezey side of Macron and how he panders in an effort to portray himself as above controversy, when he in fact is the agent of Hollande and the official EU poster boy candidate.
Mr Macron hugged Mr Bourram’s son Said on the bridge ahead of the rally and tried to somehow portray Ms Le Pen as responsible for the man’s death in a disgusting display of political dirty tricks by Macron.
Marine Le Pen continued to take a more grounded approach and spoke of a French future without a migrant problem, out of the EU and NATO and without a euro to hinder France’s economic growth.