PARIS, May 1: French presidential frontrunner Emmanuel Macron today paid homage to a young Moroccan man who drowned in the Seine 22 years ago after being pushed into the river by skinheads on the fringes of the National Front’s traditional May Day rally.
In an anniversary gesture clearly aimed at painting the National Front (FN) as extremist a week before he faces its candidate Marine Le Pen in a run-off vote for the presidency, Macron observed a minute’s silence on the riverbank.
“We must never forget what happened,” Macron told reporters at the site, a few steps away from the Louvre museum, where he laid a wreath of white flowers in front of a plaque in memory of the victim, Brahim Bouarram.
Macron also relaunched his attack on comments last month from Le Pen, who last week said the French state was not responsible for a mass arrest of Jews in Paris during World War Two.
“I shall never forget, and I will fight up until the very last second not only against her programme but also her idea of what constitutes democracy and the French Republic” said Macron.
Reuters