The National Rally (Rassemblement National, RN) is holding its 19th congress in Orléans this weekend, an event that serves as the official launch of Marine Le Pen’s presidential campaign and has become a flashpoint for political confrontation and security concerns.
A Congress to Mobilise the Presidential Campaign
The RN congress is expected to draw 5,000 attendees on Saturday and 10,000 on Sunday for the formal kick-off of Marine Le Pen’s presidential bid. Around thirty coaches have been chartered to bring party activists from across France.
On Saturday, Jordan Bardella is expected to be re-elected as party president. He will then announce the composition of the national bureau and the executive bureau.
Sunday’s programme features a series of speeches from far-right leaders. Eric Ciotti, the mayor of Nice and an RN ally, will speak first, followed by Jordan Bardella and finally Marine Le Pen. According to sources close to the candidate, her address will centre on three main themes: “renaissance,” the campaign slogan; “power”; and “the presidency.” The aim, the same source said, is to “rise above the fray” and project onto “the long term.”
One Demonstration Authorised Saturday, Another Banned Sunday
Hugues Moutouh, the prefect of the Loiret department, announced on Thursday that “20,000 to 30,000 people from across France” are expected on Saturday for demonstrations against the congress. A large protest is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. from the cathedral forecourt, organised by around fifty organisations, trade unions and predominantly left-wing political movements, under the banner of opposing “racism, fascism and imperialism.”
Socialist Party First Secretary Olivier Faure, the La France Insoumise mayor of Saint-Denis Bally Bagayoko, Green party leader Marine Tondelier and CGT general secretary Sophie Binet are all expected to take part.
“Political figures” coming to Orléans “want to intimidate our activists,” RN spokesperson and MP Laure Lavalette said on Friday. Sophie Binet countered: “Marine Le Pen needs to stop the theatrics and stop playing the victim — we are not going to prevent her congress from taking place.” She added: “We will gather to denounce the absolute danger that the far right poses to our democracy. This is a party that wants to tear down all the values of our Republic.”
The prefect insisted that “this duly declared demonstration is within the law. The state, in its role, will guarantee the exercise of this freedom to demonstrate.”
However, organisations “identified as belonging to the ultra-left movement” have signalled “their firm intention to prevent by any means the holding of the National Rally congress and Mrs Le Pen’s rally,” according to the prefect, who expects “2,000 to 3,000 radical elements” among the demonstrators. He warned that “there will be no declared demonstration on Sunday because we know unfortunately that these gatherings are mobs, often of armed individuals, whose aim is to destabilise the institutions of the Republic and to attack people’s freedoms.”
Major Security Deployment
The prefect announced “absolutely massive resources mobilised by the Interior Ministry” to ensure security in Orléans, including “around fifteen mobile police units” throughout the weekend, “amounting to nearly 2,000 additional CRS riot police and mobile gendarmes.” A Centaure armoured vehicle from the gendarmerie and water-cannon vehicles will also be deployed.
“Some members are worried, but many are determined to come and join us,” an RN source said.
“There will be an exceptional security operation,” Orléans mayor Serge Grouard said on Thursday, describing “a highly responsive arrangement.” He promised: “We are not waiting idle for people to come and smash everything up,” without giving details, because “if we reveal the arrangements, we create a weakness.”
The mayor did outline several preventive measures: a ban on parking in the city centre, suspension of tram services, removal of public furniture from the streets and specific protections around certain buildings. At a press conference, he also announced the closure of several public venues, including museums, and the cancellation of performances. Shops may remain open, provided that terraces at city-centre establishments are folded away.
Political Ramifications
The convergence of the RN congress, large-scale left-wing protests and the expected presence of radical groups has turned Orléans into a focal point for wider tensions over the state of French democracy. Marine Le Pen, speaking on franceinfo on Wednesday, reacted sharply when asked whether the congress should be maintained: “We could also stop breathing because leftists have decided to bring down our democracy. But do you think that is how it works? We close the media because they attacked CNews, and then we close every town hall and prevent political parties from meeting? Well, no — we will not stop anything at all. It is they who will stop!”
The weekend’s events will be closely watched as a test of the authorities’ ability to balance freedom of assembly, public order and the security of a major political gathering.
