French Presidential Rally Turns Violent As Candidate Is Violently Attacked

A right-wing French presidential candidate and television personality was attacked during his very first campaign rally on Sunday.

French presidential candidate Eric Zemmour was speaking on stage when a 63-year-old man pushed his way through the crowd and grabbed him by the neck, security quickly took the man into custody. The incident was only one of several violent disruptions during the event.

Dozens of people were arrested outside the event and French prosecutors opened an investigation Monday into all “incidents of violence” at the rally. Local media reported that Zemmour’s wrist had been injured, with his doctors ordering nine days of rest.

Zemmour, a former journalist with hardline views on immigration, announced his bid for the president Tuesday in the 2022 French presidential race against incumbent Emmanuel Macron.

One spectator commented that Zemmour has argued that “wokeness” has been a catalyst for the increased presence of Islam in Christian nations and is “destroying our cultures, our history, that they make a clean sweep of all that and allow a foreign culture, history and civilization to come and replace it.”

Zemmour is challenging Marine Le Pen, who placed second in the 2017 presidential race, for leadership of the country’s right-wing nationalist. An estimated 10,000 people turned out for the Paris rally, with thousands of demonstrators marching through the streets of the city.

A spokesperson for Zemmour’s newly-announced party, Reconquête, said that they were planning to file a legal complaint and praised their candidate for his “courage.”

Zemmour went on to deliver his speech following the attack, claiming that his victory would be “a reconquest of the greatest country in the world,” while his supporters threw chairs at protestors.

“I am the only one defending freedom of thought, freedom of speech,” Zemmour said.