More than 50 candidates and activists in France were physically attacked ahead of a tense final round of parliamentary elections on Sunday, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said.
He gave the figure after government spokeswoman Prisca Thevenot, her deputy Virginie Lanlo and a party activist were violently attacked while putting up election posters in Meudon, southwest of Paris.
The motive for the attack is not yet clear, but Ms. Thevenot returned to Meudon on Thursday with Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who condemned what he called “attacks of unacceptable cowardice.”
The string of attacks across France reflects the feverish mood on the final day of campaigning for the election.
Despite the RN leading in the polls, 217 candidates have withdrawn from the local elections so that another candidate has a better chance of preventing them from winning an absolute majority in the National Assembly.
Mr. Darmanin told news channel BFMTV that the attacks took place at a time when France is “under tension” and more than 30 people have been arrested. He said the attackers were either people who “spontaneously went on a rampage” or from “ultra-left, far-right or other political groups.”
Footage taken from the apartment block showed young men surrounding the candidate, her deputy Virginie Lanlo and an activist from President Emmanuel Macron’s Alliance party.
Ms. Thevenot told the Le Parisien website that when she and her colleagues objected to the youths defacing the party’s posters, “they immediately attacked one of my activists, injuring Virginie.” Ms. Lanlo suffered an injury to her arm and the activist was hit with a fist and a scooter, resulting in a broken jaw. The scooter also smashed the windscreen of the car.
Police arrested three teenagers and a man in his 20s and the incident quickly drew condemnation across political circles.
Climate of violence and hatred
Mr. Attal urged people to “reject the climate of violence and hatred”, while RN leader Jordan Bardella said one of his “big commitments as prime minister” would be to “tackle record insecurity and repeat offending”.
Mr. Darmanin announced that 30,000 police officers would be deployed across France for Sunday’s vote to prevent the “far left or far right” from fomenting unrest.
The BBC spoke to voters in his constituency in northern France on Thursday, who said they feared young people would go on a rampage no matter who won to express their anger at the political system.
Law and order is one of the RN’s top priorities, along with immigration and tax cuts to tackle the cost of living crisis.
RN candidates have also come under attack. Marie Dauchy said she was “viciously attacked” during her campaign at a market in La Rochette near Grenoble in the south-east of the country.
Conservative candidate and RN ally Nicolas Conquer complained that he and a female colleague were egged on. And last month, another RN candidate was hospitalised after being attacked while handing out pamphlets.
