Paris shooting has little effect on Le Pen’s bid LAST- MINUTE POLL

‘French getting used to terror attacks’ at home

• Front National leader Marine Le Pen failed to secure a l ast- minute presidential election surge ahead of centrist frontrunner Emmanuel Macron in the wake of the Champs-Elysees terror shooting, a poll suggested Friday.

As t he end neared in the most hotly contested French presidential campaign of modern times — in which corruption, the European Union, joblessness and immigration dominated — there was intense speculation over the political repercussions of the murder of a police officer Thursday night by a radicalized Frenchman.

While Le Pen gained a modicum of support in the first opinion poll held after the Champs- Elysees attack, Macron was expected to beat her in Sunday’s first round, before defeating her in a two- way run- off two weeks l ater. Scandal- hit conservative Francois Fillon and Communist- backed Jean- Luc Melenchon were both slightly down, to 19 per cent, which would eliminate them from the May 7 run- off.

The survey appeared to put paid to Donald Trump’s claim t hat t he shooting would “probably help” Le Pen.

Trump said he believed the attack would be a boost for the far- right leader because she’s the candidate who is “strongest on borders, and she’s the strongest on what’s been going on in France.”

Despite critics’ claims that Macron, 39, a former economy minister, i s too soft to run France in a time of terror, an Odoxa poll still saw him winning the first round with 24.5 per cent. Le Pen was up one point, but still in second place with 23 per cent after leading the pack earlier in the race.

Le Pen has struggled to get the campaign to focus on her party’s pet issues of security, Islam and immigration. By contrast, she has been thrown on the defensive over her position to pull out of the eurozone.

After t he att ack, s he called on the “notoriously feeble” socialist, President Francois Hollande, to instantly reinstate border checks and expel foreigners who are on the watch lists of intelligence services. She said: “We cannot afford to lose this war. But for the past 10 years, left- wing and right-wing governments have done everything they can for us to lose it.

“We need a presidency that acts and protects us,” she said f rom her Paris campaign headquarters. “Elected French president, I would immediately, and with no hesitation, carry out the battle plan against Isl amist terrorism and against judicial laxity.”

Matthieu Croissandeau, editor of Nouvel Obs magazine, said the French are now thicker- skinned after two years of bloodshed.

“The French are unfortunately getting used to terror attacks on home soil and I don’t think this latest one created the shock and awe that might have made a significant difference,” he said.

Meanwhile, pressure rose on the authorities Friday to explain why the gunman was released after only 24 hours when he was detained two months ago for questioning over threats to kill police.

A hand written note praising the so- called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ( ISIL) was found next to Karim Cheurfi’s body after he shot dead one policeman and wounded two others with a Kalashnikov on Thursday night.

Cheurfi, 39, was killed when police returned fire. A French national, he had a long criminal record, and had served 13 years in prison for attempted murder before being freed in 2014. He was jailed in 2003 after shooting and wounding two policemen.

His former lawyer, JeanLaurent Panier, described him as“an introverted lon er who lived with his mother.” Police searched his home in the eastern Paris suburb of Chelles as three members of his family were taken into custody.

ISIL claimed responsibility for the shooting within hours, suggesting that the terrorist group knew the gunman and may have directed the attack.

Its statement described him as a“soldier” and called him by the pseudonym Abu Yussuf al- Belgiki ( the Belgian), which puzzled investigators because he had no known connection with Belgium.

Cheurfi was never flagged as an Islamist radical in prison. Neither was he on the main terrorism watchlist, despite appearing on the intelligence services’ radar as a potential Islamist suspect at the end of last year, security sources said.

At that time, police were tipped off that he wanted to “kill police officers to avenge Muslims killed in Syria,” Le Monde newspaper reported.

He was also seeking weapons and a way of reaching an ISIL contact in Iraq or Syria.

In January, however, he was added to a radicalization and terror prevention alert list, created in 2015 after the Charlie Hebdo attacks to better keep tabs on individuals likely to carry out attacks.

The file contains 16,000 names, including 4,000 considered particularly dangerous.

WE NEED A PRESIDENCY THAT ACTS AND PROTECTS US.