Far right rallies across France as Le Pen supporters protest public office ban

France’s far-right leader Marine Le Pen is facing mounting political turmoil after being convicted of embezzlement and banned from holding public office — a verdict that threatens to upend her ambitions to succeed Emmanuel Macron in the 2027 presidential election.

The shock ruling, handed down on Monday, has ignited protests, drawn condemnation from Le Pen’s allies and prompted fierce debate over judicial independence, as the 56-year-old figurehead of the National Rally (RN) party appeals what she and her supporters have denounced as a politically motivated attack.

“People of France, let us mobilise to defend freedom, save democracy and support Marine!” read a rallying cry posted by her party on social media ahead of a mass demonstration planned in Paris on Sunday. The protest is set to take place in Place Vauban, in the capital’s affluent 7th arrondissement.

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The conviction, which includes a partly suspended jail sentence, has stunned France’s political establishment. Though Le Pen has long been a polarising figure, the ban has triggered concern even among her ideological opponents, some of whom argue she should still be allowed to stand in 2027. The Paris Court of Appeal is expected to review her case in the coming months, raising the possibility her sentence could be modified or overturned in time for the election.

A judicial bombshell

Le Pen’s party has described the ruling as a “nuclear bomb” aimed at silencing one of the country’s most prominent opposition voices. Her comparison of herself to the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny drew sharp criticism– with Libération, the left-leaning daily, calling the analogy “indecent to the end.”

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President Macron has defended the ruling as the product of an independent judiciary, while Prime Minister François Bayrou criticised US President Donald Trump’s description of the case as a “witch hunt” by “European leftists.”

Bayrou dismissed the former US president’s remarks as “interference” in French affairs. It is “neither healthy nor desirable” to mount a demonstration against a court decision, he said in a weekend interview, insisting that the rule of law and separation of powers were foundational to French democracy.

Despite calls for restraint, National Rally president Jordan Bardella has doubled down on plans for Sunday’s protest, describing it as “a mobilisation not against, but in support of French democracy.”

“It’s not a power play,” he said.

A smaller gathering of supporters took place in Marseille on Saturday, drawing around 500 people. Bardella has indicated that more events are likely in the coming weeks as the party works to channel public outrage into political momentum.

A legacy at risk

Le Pen, who has stood for the presidency three times and led the far-right party since 2011, has worked for over a decade to detoxify the RN’s image and distance it from the controversial legacy of its co-founder– her father Jean-Marie Le Pen, who was repeatedly accused of racism and antisemitism.

The RN is now the largest single party in France’s lower house of parliament and a potent force capable of derailing Bayrou’s legislative agenda.

With inputs from agencies