In "the middle classes" and "the working classes", "we hate the assistantship".

"When we get up every morning to go to work", "we do not accept that the neighbor lives better than ourselves thanks to social assistance without the need to work", he hammered in front of a conquered public, French flags in hand.

He presented a new measure for "purchasing power", the theme of the day: a "zero charge bonus" paid at the discretion of employers, "up to 3 months net salary".

A form of extension of the "Prime Macron", a measure created in 2019 and renewed since.

Nearly four million employees received this bonus last year, with an average payment of 506 euros.

The candidate Reconquest!

wanted to make a show of force against his rival RN Marine Le Pen, in a meeting the same day in Reims and above him in the polls.

"A battle"

"An electoral campaign is a comparison of mobilizations, incarnations, programs, it's part of the game it's a permanent + battle +", underlined one of its communicators Olivier Ubéda.

Supporters of Eric Zemmour on February 5, 2022 in Lille JULIEN DE ROSA AFP

If he did not bring together the 8,000 hoped-for supporters, the former polemicist was able to rely on a white-hot room, quick to boo the socialist mayor of Lille Martine Aubry who demonstrated the same morning with Sos Racisme against "the hatred" and the presence of the far-right candidate "not welcome in Lille."

Another tense demonstration took place in the early afternoon with anti-racist activists and "antifas", interspersed with a few tear gas shots from the police, who made six arrests.

The police counted 1,100 demonstrators, including some 200 from the ultra-left.

On stage, Eric Zemmour immediately castigated the "extreme left scum" opposed to his arrival.

By insisting on the "work" of France which gets up "early", he also clearly addressed an appeal with his foot to the LR electorate, while his camp has been repeating for several days wanting throughout the month of February "to install the match" with the right-wing candidate Valérie Pécresse, slightly above in the polls too.

Eric Zemmour at a meeting in Lille on February 5, 2022 JULIEN DE ROSA AFP

The former CNews columnist also attacked the cost of public broadcasting, of which he wants to privatize the main channels to put an end to their "immigrationist, woke and decolonial propaganda", he explains.

During these remarks, in the audience, an image reporter from the private channel LCI told AFP that she had been "spit in the face" by one of her supporters.

"This is Afghanistan"

Among the supporters interviewed by AFP, several spontaneously welcomed the recent program "Zone Interdite", on the M6 ​​channel, devoted to the rise of radical Islam in Roubaix, near Lille.

Eric Zemmour at a meeting in Lille on February 5, 2022 Denis Charlet AFP

"Roubaix is ​​Afghanistan two hours from Paris. France is in serious danger. It is absolutely necessary to prevent that," said Charlie Danvoye, an 18-year-old high school student from Roubaix who proudly wears a mask of his candidate, with three comrades. .

"I have nothing against foreigners but when I see how difficult it is for us, you have to start by taking that into account," says Sandra Vanprat, 40, who came with her autistic daughter from an upscale suburb of Lille. .

Coming from the south of Pas-de-Calais because he likes the "vision" of Éric Zemmour, Olivier Sénéchal, a 36-year-old farmer, wants his "children to be able to live in a France that I have known".

This is Eric Zemmour's biggest meeting since that of December 5 when more than 10,000 people gathered in Villepinte (Seine-Saint-Denis).

Incidents then erupted with violent actions by an ultra-right group against activists from SOS Racisme.

© 2022 AFP