When the verdict of a criminal court in Paris has crossed screens in Hénin-Beaumont, many customers of the Café de la Paix received it with the indignation and the disappointment that Marine Le Pen predicts.
The far -right politician was found guilty of embezzlement, sentenced to four years in prison – two years suspended, two in the form of residual residence – and sentenced to a fine of more than $ 100,000.
But most tingling was the decision to prevent him from presenting himself to public functions for five years, which makes her ineligible to present herself during the presidential election of France in 2027.
For people here, Ms. Le Pen is not only the chief of the National Rally and the triple presidential candidate. It is their local legislator in the lower room of the Parliament.
“I am disgusted,” said Jean-Marc Sergheraert, 70, a retired charity manager, launching on a large television screen. There, Mrs. Le Pen denounced the decision as politically motivated and unfair because, she said, her sentence would be applied even if she did it, which is often not the case in France.
“She is right,” added Mr. Sergheraert. “She must defend herself and go to the end. If they want us to take the Capitol as they did in Washington, I will go to the Élysée,” he said, referring to the presidential palace in Paris.
Nearby, Arlette Boyer, 86, agreed on her light beer flute. “Prohibit French people from doing something is pushing us more to do so,” she said. “She will get additional millions of votes.”
Ms. Le Pen said she would appeal the decision, although it would be difficult to resolve her challenge in time for 2027. She was found guilty of having diverted the European Parliament funds to her party.
“This decision should disgust everyone. It is completely arbitrary,” said Steeve Boris, the mayor of the National Rally of Hénin-Beaumont, distributing leaflets encouraging residents to get up, peacefully, against “those who would bypass democracy”.
If a place in France was trembling with fury on the decision, it would be Hénin-Beaumont, a city of 26,000 people in the former industrial heart of the north of France, first ravaged by the mines of closed coal in the 1980s, then by many closed factories, victims of globalization.
The unemployment rate in the region was more than double the national average in 2021, the last census.
Given this “forgotten territory”, Ms. Le Pen’s party made it one of her bastions. Although she has never lived in the region, Ms. Le Pen chose her as her political heart, in the first place in 1998, and continuing to represent the region of regional and European policy. In 2017, she managed to campaign for a headquarters in the National Assembly.
During the last presidential election in 2022, she collected 67% of the local vote. During the legislative elections last summer, many expected that his party won in a landslide and directs the government. Instead, a left-wing coalition and the president of President Emmanuel Macron formed a “dam” by asking the country’s runoff to form a single anti-national vote.
However, in Hénin-Beaumont, Ms. Le Pen was re-elected in the first round by a large margin.
“They want to eliminate him from the presidency,” said Karen Huret, 57, arriving on Tuesday morning on the market to recover supplies for his elderly mother. “The last time, they used the dam. This is another tactic.”
For many inhabitants, the loyalty of Ms. Le Pen’s party concerns less the ideology than the appreciation of the retail policy of her party. They cite the new aquatic center in the city and the Christmas market. They feel respected by her and the party.
“She is kind. I took pictures of her with my children on the flea market, ”said Huret, a housewife. “I don’t think it’s racist. I come from the city center – I think everyone should be respected. ”
The city had a history of corruption preceding the conviction of Mrs. Le Pen. The former socialist mayor, Gérard Dalongeville, was found guilty of having stolen 4 million euros with bogus invoices and sentenced to four years in prison. For some residents, the last court decision has deepened their cynicism.
“We had communists, socialists, the national rally – they are all the same,” said Mohamed Oussedrat, 60, taking advantage of a Diolo Mint in a bar, after his work work in a hospital.
Marine Tondelier, an elected counselor in Hénin -Beaumont and the leader of the Green National Party, brought the news channels to emphasize that the national rally calls for strict police and more difficult penalties – except, it seemed, with regard to its own members.
“It shows you their hypocrisy,” she said. “I have heard of” systems put in place against them “. The only system put in place is the one they have put to divert public funds. »»
She was not the only one in town thinking that way – but perhaps in a quieter tone.
“She denigns foreigners all the time. She says they do not respect the law,” said Karim Zoui, 29. “Well, that’s it. She does not respect the law.”
He then used a term often applied by the far right to migrants – thugor thug.
“If they are thugs,” he said, “they should pay.”
