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French authorities have recorded more than 50 physical attacks on candidates and activists during the campaign, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Friday, ahead of a crucial French parliamentary election amid growing concerns about political violence.
“This campaign was short, less than three weeks. Yet we counted 51 cases of physical attacks against candidates, MPs or campaigners. I am not counting verbal attacks here,” Darmanin told CNN Affiliate BFMTV.
The severity of the attacks ranged from not too serious to “extremely serious,” Darmanin said, adding that some examinees had been hospitalized for injuries.
Darmanin added that about 30 people were taken in for questioning in connection with the attack.
France has been facing high tensions in the run-up to Sunday’s election, with Darmanin saying earlier this week that 30,000 extra police officers had been deployed to ensure neither the far left nor the far right could “create chaos”.
Politicians have repeatedly warned that a far-right victory could spark mass street protests, with French President Emmanuel Macron even saying a “civil war” could break out if the far left or right wins by a large margin in Sunday’s run-off election.
French government spokeswoman Prisca Thevenot and her team were attacked while campaigning on Wednesday evening.
Meanwhile, National Rally (RN) politician Marie Dauchy, who is running in the southeastern Savoie constituency, said she had chosen to suspend her campaign after being physically attacked during her campaign in the market.
In Cherbourg, Nicolas Conquer, the centre-right Republican candidate, claimed he was attacked by left-wing campaign staff on Monday and subsequently lodged a formal complaint.
The interior minister warned on Friday that the terror threat in the country “remains very strong,” adding that several arrests had recently taken place in two different locations. Darmanin added that while both incidents “can be qualified as terrorist incidents,” they needed to be formally classified by the country’s anti-terrorism prosecutor.
Last Sunday, the far-right RN party (led by Marine Le Pen) took the lead in the first round of the French parliamentary elections, bringing it closer to power than ever before.
According to final results released by the Interior Ministry on Monday, the RN coalition received 33.15% of the vote after an unusually high turnout, while the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) alliance came in second with 27.99% and Macron’s overall coalition fell to a dismal third place with 20.76%.
Although the Nationalist Party appears poised to win the most seats in the National Assembly, it may fall short of the 289 seats needed for an absolute majority, meaning France could be heading towards a hung parliament and heightened political uncertainty. (CNN)
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