How Marine Le Pen hopes to benefit from Toulouse bloodshed

Posted on March 22, 2012

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  1. After the shooting in Toulouse, the far right presidential candidate went from being on the defensive – as the media suggested the hit man was a neo-Nazi – to a massive media offensive as French Special Forces cornered islamist Mohamed Merha. 

    Monday – 8:00 a.m – A man shoots dead a rabbi and three young children at a Jewish school.
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    Canada
    Wed, Mar 21 2012 18:11:17

  3. 1:30p.m. – The French magazine Le Point suggests the killer may be a neo-Nazi.

  4. 6:30 p.m. – Centrist presidential candidate François Bayrou not so subtly targets Marine Le Pen and president Nicolas Sarkozy.

    “There is a degree of violence and stigmatization in French society which is growing, and that is unacceptable, (…) Statesmen have a duty to ensure that these tensions, passions and hatreds always be kept under control. By classifying people according to their origins, you inflame passions, and people do it because in those flames, there are votes to be got.”

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  6. Monday and Tuesday – Marine Le Pen stands back. She does not rush to Toulouse with other candidates. Steeve Briois, general secretary of the National Front, sends an email to National Front members, urging them to act and speak “with great caution”. They are asked 1- Not to express themselves on the matter. 2- To refrain from posting comments on Facebook and other websites.

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    RemiJDN
    Wed, Mar 21 2012 20:00:00

  8. Only former members of the party, expelled for their radical stance, dare to post comments on Twitter.

    “After Norway and Belgium, France is touched by violence. Multicultural societies are multiracist societies. Let’s face it!” tweets Laurent Ozon, kicked out last year for his comments on the Norwegian massacre.

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    “
    Après la Norvège, la Belgique, la France touchée par la violence. Les sociétés multiculturelles sont multiracistes. Engageons le débat !
    Laurent Ozonlaurentozon
    Tue, Mar 20 2012 08:00:28
  10. Wednesday – 3:00 a.m – French Special Forces launch an attack in Toulouse, cornering a man described as an “islamist.”
    7:30 a.m – Marine Le Pen is on iTélé only four hours after the beginning of the operation. Her own media offensive begins…
    o   Muslims: “I want to reassure French Muslims. By no means do I want to make an amalgam between French Muslims and the killer. The killer thought of himself as being Muslim before being French. There are thousands of people in this country who consider themselves to be French before being Muslims.”
    o   International: “The war in Afghanistan is useless and must be condemned. And now this war is coming to our own territory. (…) In Libya, we helped the fundamentalists to seize power!”
    o   Anti-Semitism: “Anti-Semitism is essentially linked to Islamist fundamentalism. I have been saying it for years. I was right.”
    o   Halal: “Let’s not forget Halal meat helps to finance fundamentalist mosques (through a religious tax).”
    o   Security: “This is clearly a theme which is now prominent in this campaign. We need to talk about the fear resented by the French people. (…) A referendum on the death penalty and effective life imprisonment is on the table.”
  11. Morning

  12. Morning – The National Front publishes a media release – “Aux Salauds” (“To the bastards.”) It is aimed at far left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, communist leader Marie George Buffet and centrist François Bayrou: “You thought you could use what happened in Toulouse against the National Front and our candidate Marine Le Pen. (…) You tried to insult 20% of the population (who will be voting for Marine Le Pen). (…) You should now shut up for a very long time.”


    Meanwhile, France is waking up and tweets are starting to pop up: “So the killer is a Muslim? Really? Marine Le Pen is going to end up president.”

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    “
    Donc le tueur à Toulouse est musulman ? Concretement ? Marine LE PEN va etre presidente de la France à cause de cette histoire.
    Klémence V.Kleemsy
    Wed, Mar 21 2012 03:12:31

  14. 7:35 a.m – Florian Philippot, who runs the campaign for Marine Le Pen, walks out of Radio Notre Dame’s studio, where he has pushed forward Le Pen’s narrative. He tweets and you can feel his jubilation: “#Mélenchon, #Bayrou, #SOS racisme are sinking.”

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    “
    Naufrage aujourd’hui des #Mélenchon #Bayrou #SOS racisme
    Florian Philippotf_philippot
    Wed, Mar 21 2012 04:03:57
  16. Meanwhile, Laurent Ozon, the radical fringe, mocks Marine Le Pen: “‘No amalgam’, that’s going to be the point of the day, maybe of the week.” 
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    “
    “ne faisons pas d’amalgames” élue d’ors et déjà phrase de la journée, voire de la semaine.
    Laurent Ozonlaurentozon
    Wed, Mar 21 2012 03:36:08

  18. Throughout the day – Stories start coming out, framing the media storyline: “This is a gift from heaven for Marine Le Pen,” explains Sylvain Crépon, an expert on the far right in France.

  19. 7:20 p.m – Nicolas Bay, poll specialist for the National Front, is on France Inter. “The shooting in Toulouse sheds light on the pertinence of Marine Le Pen’s analysis.”

  20. Political opponents fire back:

    “Throughout this campaign, both yesterday and today, Marine Le Pen has had the same goal – to feed a Crusader spirit inspired by a religious war under the theory of the clash of civilisations,” (Alexis Corbiere, Front de Gauche).

    “The far right wants to take advantage of the situation (…) We cannot let the public debate slip towards those kinds of confrontations,” (François Bayrou, Modem).

  21. Evening – As France falls asleep, the gunman – Mohamed Merha – is still barricaded in his apartment.

  22. Thursday- 8:10 a.m. – Marine Le Pen denounces what she calls “green fascism.”

    o   Islam: “We need to pinpoint the veritable nature of Islamic fundamentalism. We need to check carefully who is investing in our country and how they are doing it. I worry when I see Qatar spending money in our suburbs.”


    o   Security: “Over the past few days, a bomb has exploded in Paris (in front of the Indonesian embassy) and a girl was savagely attacked in Nantes. Of course, there is a security issue in this country.”  


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  24. 11:50 a.m. – After a 32-hour stand-off, and an extremely violent five-minute shoot-out, Mohamed Merah dies.

    Only thirty days before the first round of the presidential elections, Marine Le Pen hopes to take advantage of the episode to impose her own narratives. And gosh, this is happening.

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Posted in: Le Pen, National Front