Four days before an expected decision from the Constitutional Council, a large coalition of opponents of the “immigration” law is calling for demonstrations on Sunday January 21 against the promulgation of a text which, according to them, represents the ideological victory of the “extreme right “. By rallying behind an appeal initially launched by 201 personalities, these opponents hope to bring together beyond the traditional activist sphere to put pressure on the executive, which could quickly promulgate the text voted in mid-December, unless there is complete censorship of the advisors of Rue de Montpensier, on January 25, which would be a surprise.
After the January 14 demonstration, during which thousands of people marched at the call of immigrant defense associations, more than 160 marches are planned for Sunday, notably in Paris, where the procession set off from 14 h:30 from Place du Trocadéro and was made up of 16,000 people, according to the police headquarters. Several left-wing leaders, Manon Aubry (LFI), Marine Tondelier (EELV), Olivier Faure (PS) and Fabien Roussel (PCF) were present and castigated an executive “which opened the drawbridge to the ideas of the extreme right” , according to Mr. Faure, first secretary of the Socialist Party.
On Sunday morning, several hundred people gathered in Metz, and 800 people demonstrated in Caen. In Lille, according to La Voix du Nord, nearly 3,000 people marched in the city center at the end of the morning. According to France 3 Nouvelle-Aquitaine, around 3,000 people gathered in Bordeaux, Place de La Bourse. In Strasbourg, 1,800 people according to the police, 3,000 according to the organizers, marched in the streets of Strasbourg on Sunday afternoon. In Lyon, nearly 2,000 people were expected in the afternoon in the procession that left Place Bellecour. On Saturday, between 3,000 and 4,000 people, according to the organizers, marched through the streets of Toulouse.
“Caring for unity and solidarity rather than endless division of our society, we ask the President of the Republic not to promulgate this law,” write the authors of the call to demonstrate, including many personalities from the world of culture, like the actress Josiane Balasko or the writer Alice Zeniter.
“Written at the dictation of hate mongers”
For these signatories from all walks of life, including the leaders of the CFDT and the CGT, Marylise Léon and Sophie Binet, the emergency physician Patrick Pelloux, and the co-founder of Mediapart Edwy Plenel, the law “was written under the dictation of merchants of hatred who dream of imposing their project of “national preference” on France. In question, the numerous additions by Parliament to the initial text, giving a very right-wing color to a law which was to be based on two components – one repressive for “delinquent” foreigners, the other promoting integration. The text now includes many controversial measures, such as toughening access to social benefits, the establishment of migration quotas, or the reinstatement of the “crime of illegal residence”.
“The demonstrations [on Sunday] must demonstrate that public opinion is not with the racists and the fascists,” urged the activist collective Marche des solidarités, on the front line in the streets for several weeks, on Friday. After the unions, more than 300 elected left-wing and environmentalists also called, in Libération, to demonstrate against a text consecrating the “cultural victory of the extreme right under the friendly exterior of “at the same time””. “This law flouts the principles resulting from the French Revolution,” criticized these elected officials, including the councilor of Lille, Martine Aubry (Socialist Party).