On April 6, 2025, thousands of protesters flooded the streets of central Paris, voicing their outrage over a French court’s decision to ban far-right leader Marine Le Pen from running in the 2027 presidential election. The ruling, handed down on March 31 by a Paris criminal court, convicted Le Pen of embezzling European Parliament funds and barred her from public office for five years—a move that’s thrown French politics into chaos and sparked a fierce backlash from her supporters.
The protest kicked off in the late afternoon near Place de la République, with crowds swelling into the tens of thousands by evening. Waving tricolore flags and chanting slogans like “Justice pour Marine!” (Justice for Marine!), demonstrators demanded the decision be overturned, calling it a “political assassination” of Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) party. The march, organized by RN president Jordan Bardella, stretched across boulevards, tying up traffic as police kept a close watch under a gray, drizzly sky.
Le Pen’s ban stems from a years-long probe into her party’s misuse of EU funds. The court found she and two dozen RN figures siphoned off €4.1 million between 2004 and 2016, using it to pay party staff instead of legitimate parliamentary aides. Alongside the five-year election ban—effective immediately—she got a four-year prison sentence, with two years suspended and two to be served under house arrest with an electronic tag, plus a €100,000 fine. Le Pen stormed out of the courtroom before the sentencing ended, later slamming it on TF1 as a “political decision” to kneecap her 2027 run, where polls had her as a frontrunner to replace Emmanuel Macron.
Her supporters agree. “This isn’t justice—it’s the establishment rigging democracy,” said a protester in his 30s, holding a sign reading “Le Pen 2027 ou rien” (Le Pen 2027 or nothing). Bardella, the 29-year-old RN chief seen as her likely stand-in, fired up the crowd, calling the verdict a “dictatorship of judges” and urging a “peaceful mobilization” to defend French voters’ rights. The RN’s online petition, “Let’s Save Democracy,” has already racked up thousands of signatures, amplifying the street-level fury.
It’s not just RN loyalists, though. Far-right allies across Europe—like Hungary’s Viktor Orbán and Italy’s Matteo Salvini—have rallied behind Le Pen, labeling it an attack on democracy. Even U.S. President Donald Trump weighed in, calling it a “very big deal” that mirrors his own legal battles, while Elon Musk predicted it’d “backfire.” Back home, some centrists, like Prime Minister François Bayrou, have voiced unease about the ban’s immediacy, though he backs the judges overall.
The other side’s digging in too. France’s Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin condemned threats against the judges—chief judge Bénédicte de Perthuis is now under police protection after death threats—and insisted the ruling’s fair. “The law applies to everyone,” he said in Parliament, while centrist lawmaker Sacha Houlié asked, “Are we so sick we can’t handle justice?” The court’s logic? Letting a convicted embezzler run risks “public unrest,” especially with no remorse shown.
For now, Le Pen’s fate hangs on an appeal. The Paris Court of Appeal plans to rule by summer 2026—cutting it close for 2027—but more filings could slow it down. If she loses, Bardella’s the RN’s Plan B, though some worry his youth might not sway older voters. Either way, today’s protests signal a fired-up base ready to fight, rain or shine, as France braces for a political showdown that’s just getting started.