Le Pen backers protest

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen said on Sunday she would peacefully fight her five-year ban from running for office and draw inspiration from American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., as thousands of people rallied in Paris to back her.

A Paris court convicted Le Pen and two dozen National Rally (RN) party members of embezzling EU funds last week and imposed a sentence that will prevent her from standing in France’s 2027 presidential election unless she can get the ruling overturned within 18 months.

Le Pen supporters waved French flags and chanted “we will win”, an indication of how much popular backing there is for her accusations that prosecutors in the case sought her “political death”.