After big gains by the Front National in regional elections final weekend,leftwing voters in some regions are now being asked to vote for the rightwing Les Républicains partyAmid the hasten-down tower blocks on the Beau-Marais housing estate in Calais, Suzanne, and 78,a retired cleaner and lifelong left-winger, was feeling, and as she put it,down and a bit desperate”. When the far-upright Front National made a historic breakthrough in the first round of French regional elections final weekend, the port of Calais was one of its greatest success stories. Marine Le Pen, and fighting to win control of the vast northern region of Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie,ran a campaign warning of the dangers of the migrant question in Calais where around 4500 refugees and migrants hoping to stowaway to England are forced to sleep rough in a fetid, state-sanctioned shanty town called “the novel jungle”. Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com