A candidate for Marine Le Pen’s anti-mass immigration populist Rally National (RN) party in France’s early elections has been hospitalised after being attacked by a “masked group”.
Marine Le Pen slammed “far-left militias” after assailants in black attacked a group of activists, including a parliamentary candidate, in the Loire city of Saint-Étienne, where the RN activists were “pushed down and insulted” and pelted with “projectiles” including rotten fruit, water and flour.
According to victims and witnesses, the attackers were a “masked group” dressed “all in black,” a well-known feature of the hard-left “Black Bloc” movement, which dresses in black to discreetly prevent police from identifying violent activists.
The stress and physical trauma of the encounter was apparently enough. A report on the attack states in Figaro, RN candidate Hervé Brueuil was hospitalized after suffering a stroke. He remained there until Friday.
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French Broadcasting Station TF1 Status Brühl, 70, who wears a pacemaker, was reportedly kicked during the assault, which began with shouting and then the assailants told the activists they were banned from the city and allegedly tried to steal the mobile phone of someone who had filmed the altercation.
Police have launched an investigation.
RN leader Marine Le Pen, who is running in the primary alongside Jordan Bardella, an ally of French President Emmanuel Macron, condemned the emergence of violence in a democracy and blamed the attacks on the left.
She said: “The candidate for Saint-Etienne is still in hospital this evening after a despicable attack by far-left militias. An electoral campaign in a democratic country cannot tolerate such an instigation of extreme violence by the far-left, who do anything to sow chaos. We send him our friendly support and wish him a speedy recovery.”
The attack in Saint-Étienne was just the latest example in recent weeks of populist politicians in Europe who have, in some cases, resorted to extreme violence. Last month, a terrorist attack occurred during a political demonstration in Germany in which several people were stabbed. The suspect stabbed a police officer in the neck and was shot dead; the officer later died from his injuries. In Slovakia, a political activist shot the prime minister in June over what he believed was insufficient military support for Ukraine.
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