Over 1,000 attended the mass for the far-right political figure, including his daughter far-right politician Marine Le Pen.
French far-right politician Marion Maréchal (left) gives a speech during a memorial service for her grandfather, late French far-right figure Jean-Marie Le Pen (portrait) at the Notre-Dame du Val-de-Grace church in Paris
Over 1,000 people attended a memorial ceremony on Thursday, January 16, in central Paris for the founder of France’s main far-right party, Jean-Marie Le Pen, who died last week at the age of 96.
The “mass for the repose of the soul” at Notre-Dame du Val-de-Grâce church took place under tight security, as Le Pen was a polarizing figure, convicted multiple times of antisemitism, discrimination and inciting racial violence.
Family members, including his daughter Marine Le Pen, now the leading far-right figure in France, other Rassemblement National party officials and longstanding supporters gathered inside the church. The broader public was allowed to follow the ceremony via giant screens outside. A private funeral took place last week in Le Pen’s hometown of La Trinité-sur-Mer in Brittany.
Crowds applauded Le Pen’s family members as they came out of the church at the end of the mass. Among those at the ceremony was Eric Zemmour, a controversial talk show pundit with views to the right of the far-right who competed against Marine Le Pen at the last presidential election, in 2022. Zemmour was convicted multiple times of inciting racist or religious hatred. Le Pen’s niece, Marion Maréchal, now a member of the European Parliament who once joined forces with Zemmour before launching her own far-right party last year, was also present.
Dieudonné M’Bala M’Bala, a French comedian repeatedly convicted of inciting antisemitism or racial hatred, attended outside the church. He said on social media a court allowed him to go. The comedian has been under house arrest since May, tagged with an electronic bracelet. Numerous police officers were deployed Thursday around the church as authorities sought to avoid any security incidents.
In an interview in 1987, Jean-Marie Le Pen referred to the Nazi gas chambers as a “detail in World War II history.” He repeated the remark in 2015, saying he “did not at all” regret it, triggering the ire of his daughter, by the party leader of the party he had created. She was seeking to distance herself from her father’s extremist image, and that year he was kicked out of the party.
