As we noted last night [2], French President Hollande's first election since his gaining power was not going well for the ruling Socialist people. The municipal elections, especially in the South of the country, saw victories for the far-right National Front (FN) party (which is specifically anti-immigration and anti-Europe and often accused of being racist, anti-Semitic, and anti-Muslim) as widespread disappointment with the Socialist Party was clear. However, as The Mail reports [3], riot police were called in several towns on the south coast to guard the winning right-wing party's offices as "demonstrators are trying to get at the Front representatives and starting fights." Riot police were also out in force in other parts of the country as anti-fascist demonstrators threatened FN candidates with violence.
The National Front victories of note were in the south of the country...
[4]
Frejus and nearby Beziers are now expected to have National Front (FN) mayors sworn in, along with around five other towns, following a nationwide drubbing for President Francois Hollande's Socialists.
Riot police were also out in force in other parts of the country as anti-fascist demonstrators threatened FN candidates with violence.
[5]
Fights started outside French town halls tonight as they came under the control of the far-right National Front for the first time following dramatic gains in local elections.
...
'Demonstrators are trying to get at the Front representatives and starting fights,' said a police spokesman in Frejus, the picturesque Mediterranean town which is hugely popular with British tourists.
[6]
David Rachline, who is expected to become the FN mayor of Frejus, is a former head of the party's youth movement, and still just 26.
Mr Rachline said: 'The political establishment has failed the people - it has ruined the town and filled its pockets.
'You can't talk about a protest vote any more - the Front's scores show that people are backing its ideas.'
In a deeply humiliating blow for the Socialist government, finance minister Pierre Moscovici was unseated from the town council in Valentigny in the Doubs department.
The FN took 50.26 per cent of the vote in the northern town of Henin-Beaumont last Sunday, giving it an instant majority and meaning it already has its first mayor there.
[7]
As polls closed in the two round municipal elections tonight the FN said it was on track to claim 1,200 municipal council seats.
'We have moved on to a new level,' said Ms Le Pen. 'There is now a third major political force in our country.'
Mr Hollande's response to the expected nationwide drubbing is said to be a major reshuffle, replacing Prime Minister Jean Marc Ayrault with Interior Minister Manuel Valls.
Which, we are sure, will make all the difference. It seems socialism is not popular these days...