France: Le Pen launches presidential campaign in Orleans

Marine Le Pen is officially launching her presidential campaign with a rally in Orléans that's taking place under rain and high security. For the second day in a row now, the national rally gathering has sent the city into lockdown with an unprecedented police presence. It comes after 13,000 people joined a demonstration against the far-right anti-immigration party on Saturday, according to the prefecture. Organisers said there were in fact 26,000 who heeded the call from some 50 unions, associations and political parties. They expressed that a Marine Le Pen presidency would be a catastrophe for the country. The National Rally is desperate to put on a good show, so it's important we show that there are people who oppose them, who are against them, because they're a real danger to democracy. It's clear. A few kilometres away, Jordan Bardella, the only candidate, was officially re-elected as leader of the National Rally. You can always count on me to never waver, to never back down and to give it my all until Marine Le Pen's victory. The arena was half full with 5,000 party officials and supporters from all over the country. Those inside exposed a divided France. Who's bringing up civil war? Who's bringing up violence? It's them. We want, we believe in a patriotic, republican France. The only France that exists is ours. We're in a time that is deeply corrupted by the far-left and left-wing groups that seek to corrupt our youth and are now trying to gain the upper hand over our ideas, and ultimately over our love for France. The National Rally currently has a comfortable lead in the polls, ahead of the presidential election in six months' time.