French election protests: Fury erupts in two major cities as police clashes break out

France: Protesters gather in Rennes following election

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Emmanuel Macron is ahead of the race for the top job in Europe’s second-largest economy with 27.6 percent of the vote, while Marine Le Pen sits at 23.4 percent. The run-off between the centrist president and the far-right contender prompted unrest on the streets of Lyon and Rennes.

A demonstration of 600 people marched through the streets of Rennes after the results were revealed, while furniture was destroyed and the windows of bank branches were damaged, the AFP news agency said.

The front of a restaurant was targeted, with glass doors partially broken, and a centric police station was attacked, too.

A fire was started with construction equipment at a square, forcing emergency services to attend the scene.

Some facades read “F*** national fascism” or “Le Pen fascist dynasty”.

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In Lyon, fireworks were set off and clashes between demonstrators and police broke out, as seen in images circulating on social media.

Yasmine Bouagga (EELV), the mayor of the first arrondissement, told France 3 Rhône-Alpes “a group of demonstrators threw projectiles at the windows” of the town hall and “entered a space adjacent to one of the rooms where the counting of the votes was being done”.

She added: “They were taken out and doors were blocked to allow the counting of the ballot papers to be completed.”

A 20-year-old voter told the France Bleu paper: “I will not vote in the second round”.

Another demonstrator said: “They are two far-right candidates”.

A dozen candidates were in the running on Sunday, but only Mr Macron, Ms Le Pen and far-left Jean-Luc Mélenchon gained more than 10 percent of support.

A poll by the Ifop institute for French television channel TF1 said Mr Macron was on course to defeat his populist rival in the second round by a slim 51-39 percent margin, predicting an intense period of campaigning until April 24.

Mr Macron, with a reformist agenda that includes raising the retirement age from 62 to 65, had words of caution to his cheering voters.

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He said: “Make no mistake, nothing is decided, and the debate we’ll have in the next two weeks will be decisive for our country and for Europe.”

Addressing Ms Le Pen’s voters, the 44-year-old pro-European pledged: “I want to convince them in the next few days that our project answers solidly to their fears and challenges of our time.”

“When the extreme right in all its forms represents so much of our country,” he added, “we cannot feel that things are going well.”

Ms Le Pen, meanwhile, called the final round “a fundamental choice between two opposing visions of society”.

The Eurosceptic, who wants to levy sweeping changes on Brussels, although not to leave the bloc, called on “all those who did not vote for Macron” to join her.

The 53-year-old also promised to pull France out of NATO’s integrated command, in a challenge to the West’s post-Cold War security structure, as well as to soften its ties with the US.

Both candidates, who were the finalists five years ago, will now do their best to gather support from the smaller candidates – making the choice of Mr Mélenchon’s voters key.

The veteran’s preference is clear.

In a speech in Paris, he exclaimed: “Do not give a single vote to Marine Le Pen!”

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