Several hundred demonstrators, between 3,000 and 4,000 according to the organizers, marched on Saturday January 20 in Toulouse, against the “immigration” law, adopted on December 19, 2023, and on which the position of the Constitutional Council is expected on January 25 . This demonstration is being held on the eve of a major day of mobilization, Sunday, against the law, the adoption of which caused an open crisis within the presidential majority.
“It’s unbearable to attack the weakest! », Launched Marianne Delacourt, in freezing but sunny weather in Toulouse. Coming to demand the repeal of the law and “denounce the national preference, which is anti-Republican”, the 58-year-old library curator, wearing a multi-colored scarf around her neck, confided to having been “furious and sad” when the law was passed.
“It is in the fear of the other that our humanity dies.”
Pablo, a 34-year-old craftsman, who did not wish to give his last name, came to denounce “the direction the country is taking.” “That’s not how I see democracy and society,” he continued, warning of the possibility that France is heading toward “a fascist state.”
“Immigration is wealth,” said David Robelin, 48 years old and member of the CGT-Inrae, regretting a “useless, unjust law”. “We’re not going to close in on ourselves! We will still have to fight for the rights of everyone,” he said with a sigh.
At the end of the demonstration, under the plane trees of the esplanade bordering the Toulouse botanical garden, the placards criticized an immigration law which carries “state racism”. “It is in the fear of others that our humanity dies,” proclaimed another sign.
Adopted forceps by Parliament, the text restricts the payment of social benefits for foreigners, establishes migration quotas, calls into question the automaticity of land law and reestablishes an “illegal residence offense”.