Far-right party chief Jordan Bardella called on the French to rally this weekend to protest against a ruling that banned Marine Le Pen from running for public office for five years after being found guilty of embezzling European Union funds.
Monday's ruling was a catastrophic setback for Le Pen, the long-time National Rally (RN) leader, who had been the front-runner in opinion polls for the 2027 presidential election.
"The French should be outraged, and I tell them: Be outraged!" Bardella told Europe 1 radio and CNews TV over a ruling that far-right leaders said was biased and undemocratic. "We'll take to the streets this weekend."
Bardella offered few details, other than saying that there would be leafleting and meetings "everywhere in France" and that RN lawmakers would hold press conferences in their constituencies. The party announced a rally in Paris on Sunday.
In Le Pen's stronghold of Henin-Beaumont, in northern France, RN officials were handing out leaflets that read "Let's save democracy. Support Le Pen!"
Meanwhile, the weekly session of parliamentary questions to government degenerated into a heated debate over the ruling, with the RN repeating accusations that it was politically biased.
Earlier, Le Pen told RN lawmakers that she considered it was a "nuclear bomb" launched by "the establishment" against her. Even when she lodges her planned appeal, the ban will not be suspended.
In a sign of some of the unease over how to react to what Figaro newspaper called a "democratic earthquake", center-right Prime Minister Francois Bayrou told parliament he backed the ruling - but also that he had questions over Le Pen's election ban being immediate.
"As a matter of law, any criminal decision with serious consequences should be subject to appeal," he said, adding that he was speaking as a citizen rather than the prime minister.
Bayrou said lawmakers should change the law that allowed judges to make such a ban immediate, if they did not like it. One lawmaker allied with the RN, Eric Ciotti, said he would do just that.
President Emmanuel Macron has made no public comment.
OPINION POLL
The judge in the court hearing on Monday, Benedicte de Perthuis, said Le Pen had been "at the heart" of a scheme to misappropriate more than 4 million euros ($4.3 million) of EU funds.
The lack of remorse by Le Pen and other defendants was among the reasons that prompted the court to ban them from running for office with immediate effect, de Perthuis said.
Le Pen was also given a four-year prison sentence - two years of which were suspended and two years to be served under home detention - and a 100,000-euro ($108,200) fine, but they will not apply until her appeals are exhausted. Appeals in France can take months or even years.
The defendants were accused of using EU funds illegally to pay the party's staff back home - including one of Le Pen's sisters and other people close to her - instead of EU parliamentary assistants. They denied wrongdoing and said the money was used legitimately.
Bardella could become the RN's de facto candidate for the 2027 election. But Le Pen made clear she was not yet ready to hand him the baton, saying on Monday: "I'm not going to let myself be eliminated like this." Bardella backed her on Tuesday.
Despite outrage over the ruling among the far right in France, Europe and beyond, who were united in their condemnation of what they called judicial overreach, an opinion poll showed a majority of French people agreed with the ruling.
Some 57% of those interviewed by Elabe pollsters for BFM TV said the ruling was normal considering what Le Pen was accused of, while 42% considered it was politically biased.
Some politicians, including former Socialist President Francois Hollande, said it was important to respect the independence of the judicial system.
In the RN stronghold of Henin-Beaumont, reactions to the ruling were mixed.
"It's a shame, it's a shame because we needed a different president, we needed the RN to win," 56-year-old resident Pascal Walkowiak said on Monday.
Another resident, Isabelle, 60, said: "Too bad for her. I think it's a good thing because she made mistakes."
