Prepare for violent riots, police warned
RIOTS could break out in cities across France after results are announced of the first round of the presidential election, intelligence services have warned, as the most unpredictable vote in decades goes ahead amid a heightened terror alert.
Trouble is almost certain if Marine Le Pen, the far-Right leader, and JeanLuc-Mélenchon, her far-Left counterpart, are the two candidates who make it through to the second and final round on May 7, according to a report by intelligence services.
The confidential document, leaked to newspaper, said that at the top of the list of potential security problems as millions of people cast their ballots was the “jihadist threat”.
The report came just two days after a French jihadist claiming allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) shot dead a police officer on the Champs Elysées in Paris, bringing election campaigning to an early end and thrusting security issues back top of the political agenda.
Around 50,000 police officers and 7,000 soldiers are being deployed to protect voters across France today for the first round of the election, which has turned into a four-way race between Ms Le Pen, Mr Mélenchon, Emmanuel Macron, the maverick centrist, and François Fillon, the scandalscarred conservative.
Pre-election jitters were heightened yesterday when a man carrying a knife was arrested at Paris’s Gare du Nord station, causing a moment of panic among passengers arriving to catch Eurostar and other inter-city trains.
An opinion poll on Thursday and Friday showed Ms Le Pen and Mr Macron tied on 23 per cent, ahead of Mr Mélenchon with 19.5 per cent, and Mr Fillon on 19 per cent. But due to the margin of error pollsters factor in, there is no safe bet as to which two will make it to the second round of what has so far been the most unpredictable French presidential election in decades, coming in to the the wake of the UK’s shock decision to leave the EU and Donald Trump’s presidential triumph in the US.
The results of the French elections are being keenly watched across the world, with many experts predicting that a Le Pen victory might spark chaos in the financial markets and would lead to the collapse of the European Union.
If Ms Le Pen or Mr Mélenchon, who both rail against globalisation, make it to the run-off, this will be seen as a victory for the populist wave reflected by the votes for Donald Trump and Brexit.
But if neither candidate makes it, that would be interpreted as a clear sign that populist nationalism is finally receding.
The French intelligence report leaked to said spontaneous demonstrations – which might turn violent – could be held in cities and troubled banlieues after the results are announced at around 7pm British time today.
The report spoke of “public disturbances in the case of the presence [in the second round] of parties which are said to be extremist,” a reference to Ms Le Pen and Mr Mélenchon, the communist-backed firebrand. “In this case, protests are almost certainly to be expected,” it said.
The document also warned of farmers, hospital staff and students taking to the streets to protest at the results.
About one in three voters are still undecided, according to polls that also said the French are more worried about jobs and the economy than terrorism. But analysts warned that Thursday’s shooting in Paris could change that.
The anti-EU and anti-immigrant Ms Le Pen moved quickly to present herself as the strongest defender against Islamist radicals in a country under a state of emergency since a string of terror attacks that began in 2015 and have killed more than 230 people.
“This war against us is ceaseless and merciless,” she said, accusing President François Hollande’s socialist government of a “cowardly” response to the threat.