Two years before France holds presidential elections, a rally takes place in Paris today in support of Marine Le Pen, who has been sentenced to be stripped of her political rights.

Le Pen’s heavy first-degree conviction in a case of misappropriation of European funds and the serious possibility that she may not be able to run in the 2027 presidential election – as the court has stripped her of her right to vote for five years – have heightened tensions in France.

A Paris appeals court must decide by the summer of 2026 on the fate of Le Pen, who is considered a favorite for the 2027 presidential election.

The leader of the National Rally does not appear willing to give up and hand the baton to party president Jordan Bardella.

On the contrary, the party is going on the offensive: it has denounced the “tyrant judges“, as MP Jean-Philippe Tanguy called them, in the National Assembly and has called for a rally in support of Le Pen, which will take place today at 16:00 (GMT).

For his part, the right-wing Xavier Bertrand, president of the regional council of Haute-France where Le Pen is elected, expressed concern that today’s rally could be “a bad repeat of the Capitol,” a reference to the January 2021 invasion of the US Capitol by Donald Trump supporters.

“It’s not a demonstration against judges” but “for democracy, for Marine Le Pen, for popular sovereignty,” replied the National Rally’s vice-president, Sebastian Senoux.

Senoux again criticized the court’s “unjust” decision and its immediate effect, which “essentially constitutes the political execution of the main French political leader.”

Le Pen is supported by leaders from abroad as well: U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance have denounced a “witch hunt” being conducted by “leftist” European leaders.

Bayrou responded by calling it foreign “interference.”

The far-left France Unruly France party and environmentalists will hold a counter-demonstration at the same time as the National Alarm, about 5 kilometers away.

Former French Prime Minister Gabriel Atal, who was elected head of the party in December, intends to turn this meeting of party supporters into an anti-National Rally.