French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has called for an end to free education for foreign children.
In a speech in Paris, the National Front's candidate in the 2017 presidential race next spring said she had nothing against foreigners.
"But I tell them: if you come to our country don't expect to be taken care of, to be looked after, that your children will be educated without charge," she said.
"No more playtime," she added.
Ms Le Pen is widely expected to be one of two candidates to reach the second and final round of the election in May.
France's National Front party
founder Jean-Marie Le Pen says he is "ashamed" his daughter - current
party leader Marine - still bears his surname.
Amid a growing feud, Mr Le Pen said he hoped she "would get married as quickly as possible so as to change her name".
He added he would not support Marine in presidential elections in 2017.
His
remarks came after the far-right party suspended Mr Le Pen, 86, after
he repeated his view that the Holocaust was "a detail of history".
Marine Le Pen, 46, has been trying to steer the National Front (FN) away from its racist and anti-Semitic past.
Ms
Le Pen's view is that FN's growth is being held back by memories of
what it used to be, and that to move to the next level it must cut
itself free from its past, the BBC's Hugh Schofield in Paris reports.
French media on father-daughter feud
Dominique Albertini in Liberation notes that Marine Le Pen "dealt with the paternal problem in the most radical way".
Le
Parisien goes further, saying that the move was the "denouement of an
unprecedented political and family crisis" and describes her decision as
"Oedipal".
But some regional papers say that Mr Le Pen could still be dangerous.
Patrice Chabanet in the Journal de la Haute-Marne warns Marine to
guard against her father who "is not a man to be dictated to" and warns
of his "capacity to do harm".
Laurent Bodin in L'Alsace agrees, saying that even outside the party, her father is a "thorn" in its side. Speaking
to France's Europe 1 radio, Mr Le Pen said: "I was hoping that the
president of the National Front would get married as quickly as possible
so as to change her name.
"Because I'm ashamed that she has the same surname as me."
Asked if he would still be supporting his daughter in the presidential elections, Mr Le Pen answered: "Not for the moment."
Strong words
Marine Le Pen on her father on 8 April: He "seems to have entered a veritable spiral between a scorched earth strategy and political suicide", she says.
On 9 April, Mr Le Pen replies: "Marine Le Pen may want me dead, that's possible, but she must not count on my co-operation." Le Pen family feud in quotes Mr Le Pen has been suspended but not dismissed by the party - a decision he described as a "felony".
An
extraordinary party congress is expected to be held within three months
aimed at ending the function of honorary president - which Mr Le Pen
has been holding since stepping down as leader in 2011.
Some commentators have suggested he could be more of a risk outside the party than within it.
Mr Le Pen still holds a seat in the European Parliament and a post as a regional councillor in the south of France.
Jean-Marie Le Pen: A career in controversy
1987 - First makes his infamous remarks describing the Holocaust as a "detail of history"
1997 - Assaults rival Annette Peulvast-Bergeal during parliamentary election campaign
2006 - One of many convictions for inciting racial hatred over inflammatory remarks about France's Muslim population
2007 - Tells Le Monde newspaper "you can't dispute the inequality of the races"
2015 - Repeats views on the Holocaust, prompting Marine Le Pen to accuse him of trying to "rescue himself from obscurity"
France’s
far-right National Front (FN) held its annual May Day rally in Paris on
Friday amid divisions within the party over whether its founder and
honorary president, Jean-Marie Le Pen, should be expelled from the
group.
Scores of supporters gathered in the French capital to
take part in the event, which the party has held for the past 27 years.
The rally was temporarily disrupted after three topless Femen activists
interrupted a speech by the FN’s leader, Marine Le Pen, by making Nazi salutes and shouting “Heil Le Pen”.
Marine Le Pen has since announced that she will file a complaint against Femen.
The rally was further marred after FN supporters attacked journalists from French television channels Canal+ and France 5.
The
two incidents have highlighted the FN’s reputation as a violent,
fundamentally racist and anti-Semitic party, which Marine Le Pen has
worked hard to abolish ever since taking over its leadership from her
father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, in 2011.
Le
Pen senior, however, has apparently done little to help his daughter’s
efforts. Just last month, he made headlines after describing the
Holocaust as a mere “detail” of history. His comments led to a very public rift
with Marine Le Pen, who announced that she had launched disciplinary
proceedings against her father. The hearing is due to begin next week.
The
feud also raised deep questions within the FN over Jean-Marie Le Pen’s
future, with supporters at Friday’s May Day rally divided along
generational lines over whether he should be expelled from the party. Jean-Marie Le Pen is ‘playing against his own team’
Ludovic,
a 20-year-old student who travelled from the north of France to attend
the march, said he felt as though Jean-Marie Le Pen’s antics have
tarnished the party’s image.
“It’s time to turn the page on
Jean-Marie Le Pen, he’s become embarrassing for the party to the point
where he’s an obstacle for his daughter, who embodies modernity,”
Ludovic told FRANCE 24, adding that he believed the far-right figurehead
was “playing against his own team”.
Ludovic also said that
Jean-Marie Le Pen threatened “to slow down the victorious momentum” of
the FN, which has made steady electoral gains in recent years. “It’s
time that he withdraws from political life, to make room for younger
[supporters] by taking a well deserved retirement.”
Albin, a 23-year-old engineer, was among supporters who attended the FN's annual May Day rally
Another
protester, Albin, a 23-year old engineer from France’s central Limousin
region, echoed Ludovic’s comments. Although Albin has supported the FN
ever since he was old enough to vote and officially joined the party in
January, he said that the time had come for Jean-Marie Le Pen to step
aside.
“I don’t identify with his comments. His flamboyance must
stop. He’s going too far. I don’t understand why he keeps stirring up
trouble by constantly revisiting the 1940s,” Albin said, referring to
Jean-Marie Le Pen’s most recent inflammatory remarks.
He added
that the FN’s decision to hold disciplinary proceedings next week
against Jean-Marie Le Pen was a step in the right direction.
“It
proves that there’s no free pass within the party, even if you’re the
father of the leader,” Albin said. “At the same time, they shouldn’t be
too unfair with him, because the National Front owes him a lot.”
But Hélène, a 34-year-old baker from the Nice region in the south of France, was less forgiving of Jean-Marie Le Pen.
“He
has a suicidal attitude towards the party, his remarks undermine the
work of activists and tarnish our image among voters who are still
hesitant to join us,” she said, adding that she would not vote for the
FN nor join the party as long as Jean-Marie Le Pen was still around.
“We’re
looking towards the future. With Marine, we’re aiming for victory. She
could rise to power and save France. He embodies the past, he should go
and leave the field open,” Hélène said. ‘The FN is not the FN without Jean-Marie Le Pen’
While
many young FN supporters – who have flocked to the party ever since
Marine Le Pen took over as leader – hold a firm opinion on Jean-Marie Le
Pen, the party’s older supporters remain attached to him as a
figurehead.
Patrick, 57, who is from Paris and currently
unemployed, was among the throngs of people who took part in Friday’s
march. He began supporting the FN in 2007, after having voted for “the
left and the right”, and said that he hoped Jean-Marie Le Pen wouldn’t
be sanctioned by his own party at next week’s disciplinary proceedings.
“I
know that Marine is trying to reach a consensus, but no one has the
right to silence Jean-Marie Le Pen. He has the right to express his
ideas,” Patrick said, adding that he did not think there was anything
“shocking” about the FN founder’s recent comments.
Patrick said he
was convinced that the polemic surrounding Jean-Marie Le Pen had been
instigated by certain leaders within the party “who had yet to prove
anything”, in a thinly veiled allusion to the FN’s vice president,
Florian Philippot.
According to Patrick, Philippot, who is a vocal
critic of Jean-Marie Le Pen, “wants to push him out the door to appease
the system”.
“You don’t touch the founder!” he exclaimed.
Another
demonstrator, Sylvie, a 68-year-old retiree from the Paris region,
agreed with Patrick. She said that she was at the rally to march
alongside “patriots from all over France”.
A card-carrying member
of the FN since 1988, Sylvie said that she rejected the idea that “the
party’s emblematic figure, without whom the FN is not the FN, be
humiliated like a vulgar student who has been summoned in front of his
teachers”.
“What ingratitude towards the man, who, alone against
everyone, shaped the FN for years, and without whom Marine would not
have been able to get where she is. She shouldn’t forget what she owes
him,” she said. “We owe him respect. He will forever embody our party
and our country, even after he is gone.”
AFP
