Gabriel Attal came to defend “a grassroots campaign”, Marine Tondelier to support the “union” of the left, while waiting for the arrival of Jean-Luc Mélenchon: the presidential candidates unfolded their strategies against the RN at the Lille clearance sale this Saturday.
In a dark suit and tie for his first clearance sale, Gabriel Attal set out with his campaign team between the 5,000 stands of the largest flea market in Europe, taking selfies and spontaneous exchanges.
“Field” campaign
“Hello Gabriel! », “We are for you” says a sell-out, before adding irreverently: “You are small, eh! You look bigger on TV! » The general secretary of Renaissance, who will be at a popular festival in Toulouse this Saturday evening and then in Rouen on Sunday for the Harvest Festival, called for a “grassroots campaign, in contact with the French”.
The former Prime Minister of Emmanuel Macron declined his priorities, “schools, salaries, borders, artificial intelligence”, by reducing “the public debt and the climate debt”. In his wake, a bargain hunter from the neighboring town of Loos, Christophe Vandersnickt, 59, emphasizes “that we must above all motivate people to go and vote, we must talk to the people again and above all not repeat Macron”.
While Edouard Philippe, another former Prime Minister and Horizons candidate, remains opposed to a primary, Gabriel Attal estimated that “the rally will have to come when the time is right, therefore early 2027”. He also tackled the “staggering” position of the National Rally on Ukraine, after the party suggested “turning off the tap” to this country against Russia.
“Trojan Horse”
Criticism shared by Marine Tondelier, according to whom “all those who want to harm France and Europe support Marine Le Pen”, who according to her would be “their Trojan horse”. For her 19th clearance sale, the leader of the Ecologists, who was offered a green skirt and a porcelain cow by sellers, was pleased to be the only party “well received on all the left-wing stands”.
Betting on an “almost certain” qualification of candidate RN Marine Le Pen in the second round of the presidential election, she underlined the need for unity on the left. Faced with Marine Le Pen, “either it’s someone from the right or it’s someone from the left”, and “the place will go to the least divided camp or rather to the most united camp”, she insisted.
The candidate, who is due to give birth in September, assured “to be there, more than ever, looking for solutions”: “As long as I do not give birth, I am in the campaign”. “We have no right to separately lose an election that we could win together, especially not this one. »
Mussels and fries tables
The boss of La France insoumise Jean-Luc Mélenchon is expected around 4 p.m. for a speech on a stage set up for the occasion. A regular at the Lille clearance sale, he should speak for 45 minutes on the economic and social subjects which are in the news this fall. The Republicans’ stand must also welcome former Prime Minister Michel Barnier.
Jérôme Guedj, deputy for Essonne and candidate in the socialist primary, is also expected on Saturday alongside the city’s PS mayor Arnaud Deslandes. The Lille flea market, launched in the Middle Ages, is one of the most emblematic events in Lille life, both flea market, garage sale, and festive event with gigantic tables of mussels and fries.
Around 2.5 million visitors (nearly double the population of the Lille metropolis) are expected to set foot on the cobblestones of the 53 kilometers of streets reserved for the clearance sale in the center of Lille, largely pedestrianized for 50 hours for the occasion.
More than 3,000 civil servants, including 1,800 police officers and 200 gendarmes, as well as 560 firefighters and 600 municipal agents are mobilized for these two days of celebrations, indicated the zonal prefect Bertrand Gaume. To combat gender-based and sexual violence, secure spaces have been set up in the metro and nightlife areas.
