JEAN-MARIE le Pen’s foray into the heart of Europe collapsed into chaos and recriminations this week after he was heckled by MEPs and taunted by anti-fascist demonstrators before expounding his views.
Members of the European Parliament jeered as the National Front leader entered the chamber in Brussels. Pat Cox, the Parliament’s Irish president, ordered deputies to remain silent after several raised placards saying ”Non”.
Le Pen complained that it was ”disgraceful” that France and Europe were absent from the Middle East because they had ”fallen into line” with the orders of the United States.
No attempt was made to prevent him from speaking.
As anti-Le Pen protests continued to gather momentum in France before mass rallies planned for this weekend and May Day, several more groups joined the call for a huge No vote against him
The main event of Le Pen’s stormy day in Brussels was to have been a press conference about his views on the EU, which he accuses of undermining French sovereignty and independence. He wants to renegotiate basic treaties and bring back the franc to replace the euro.
Excitement mounted and tempers flared in the packed hall. But after a long wait it was announced that the event would not go ahead because of protests both inside and outside the hall.
”We planned a press conference, not a political meeting organised by supporters of Jacques Chirac,” said Le Pen’s spokesman, Jean-Claude Martinez. ”We are not going to through whatever degradation they seem to have been preparing for us.”
In the melee that followed, a mixture of slapstick and raw fury, punches were thrown and Martinez was hit in the face by a cream pie.