They are 13,000 to be gathered around their candidate, according to the organizers.

"Impossible is not French", expression attributed to Napoleon, and an olive branch - the meaning of the name Zemmour in Berber - are the slogan and logo chosen by the former editorialist who must speak in the middle afternoon.

At the entrance to the meeting, activists from the Action Française monarchist movement distribute their newspapers.

"We meet on certain themes including immigration, sovereignty," said Brocard, a 24-year-old social worker.

Some 900 young people from the “Generation Z” militant movement are present, according to its president Stanislas Rigault.

"Macron resignation", they shout to make the public wait.

Trump-style goodies such as "well see" or "Zemmour2022" caps, some made in Bangladesh, are sold on the sidelines of the meeting.

Journalists booed

More than 400 journalists are accredited.

Before the meeting started, members of the Daily show were booed by the audience with cries of "and everyone hates Daily," AFP reported.

The polemicist modeled his calendar on the LR congress, who chose their champion Valérie Pécresse on Saturday, with a more moderate profile than his rival Eric Ciotti.

Like Marine Le Pen, his competitor on the far right, Mr. Zemmour invited the disappointed LR to join him, in an open letter in which he attests: "We are so close".

Initially planned at the Zénith, in La Villette, in the north-east of Paris, the meeting was finally relocated to Villepinte, in the suburbs.

Mr. Zemmour's team explains it by "popular enthusiasm", but also admits security reasons.

Tensions

A dense security system has been deployed in Villepinte.

Tensions erupted at midday between dozens of opponents to the arrival of Eric Zemmour and the police, in front of the RER station.

Thirty people, who were in an area closed to demonstrations, were arrested for identity verification and taken to the police station, according to a police source.

In Paris, a few hundred people gathered in peace to denounce the candidacy and the speech in their eyes "racist" Eric Zemmour, at the call of fifty unions, parties and associations.

The PS president of Seine-Saint-Denis, Stéphane Troussel, had launched a petition to cancel the meeting by the owners of the place, the Viparis group, by calling on his "diversity charter".

The meeting makes it possible to measure the rallies, while the organization is criticized internally for its fragility and more radical activists have integrated the campaign, such as the former megretist and close to the identities Grégoire Tingaud, responsible for coordinating the regional referents.

The financier Charles Gave withdrew his support and the sovereignist Philippe de Villiers is not present on Sunday.

On the other hand, several personalities of the Manif pour tous, opposed to same-sex marriage, came to Villepinte: the former conservative deputy Jean-Frédéric Poisson, who gave up his own candidacy in 2022 and will take care of the legislative elections, as well as Christine Boutin who presided before him the small Christian Democratic Party (now "VIA the voice of the people"), and Laurence Trochu, president of the Conservative Movement, associated until now with LR.

Journalist Eric Zemmour announces his candidacy for the presidential election in a video posted on social networks, November 30, 2021 Thomas SAMSON AFP / Archives

Also present were Pierre-Jean Chalençon, collector of Napoleon's objects, accused of having organized clandestine dinners during confinement, and television host Eric Naulleau.

At their side was also Karim Ouchikh, a close friend of the far-right writer Renaud Camus, promoter of the conspiracy theory of the "great replacement" claimed by Mr. Zemmour (replacement of European populations by non-European immigrants).

The figure of "yellow vests" Jacline Mouraud was also there to support Mr. Zemmour and "represent popular France".

General Bertrand de la Chesnais, former head of the list for the RN in Carpentras (Vaucluse), who is already working on defense issues, could be appointed campaign manager.

The announcement of Mr. Zemmour's candidacy was deemed "sinister" by the entire political class.

In addition to its tone, the candidate's video had been criticized for its amateurism with the use of images without having the rights.

are-adc-fan-cf / reb / ​​cal

© 2021 AFP