Police brace for Paris protests

Paris riot police are prepared for May Day tension

PARIS, France -- Police in Paris have promised to crack down hard on any sign of trouble at demonstrations for and against far-right candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen.

About 3,500 police officers, including anti-riot squads, are being deployed throughout the capital on Wednesday as Parisians prepare to take to the streets in opposing marches.

Unionists, students and left-wing supporters are to protest against Le Pen as they celebrate Labour Day, while the National Front is set to simultaneously honour its patron saint, Joan of Arc.

Le Pen, who has used his increased media exposure to push for his anti-immigration and anti-European Union message, says he expects up to 100,000 of his supporters to hear him address a rally at the capital's Place de l'Opera square.

Tens of thousands of people have protested against him every day nationwide since his unexpected second-place showing in the first-round of the presidential race on April 21.

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The 73-year-old won 17 percent of the vote, pushing Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin into third-place. He now faces a run-off with 69-year-old President Jacques Chirac.

Four of the five demonstrations planned for Paris on Wednesday are against the National Front party leader. Organisers hope hundreds of thousands will turn out in the 70 towns designated to hold May Day celebrations.

Le Pen has used the fear of crime successfully in his election campaign, while Chirac has called for calm, saying street battles would play into the hands of his rival.

Chirac told French radio on Tuesday: "Nothing would be worse in the present situation for the ideas they (the demonstrators) are defending than wild behaviour that would lead to violence and clashes."

Le Pen derided his critics, saying the tens of thousands of students who have marched against him were being manipulated by his opponents.

"They are putting hate in their hearts and insults in their mouths," Le Pen told local radio.

"I am just the thermometer of the political sickness in France. To take it out on the thermometer is stupid."

Wednesday's main anti-Le Pen march is set to start in the afternoon at the Place de la Republique and snake through the Place de la Bastille, the revolutionary heart of the capital.

Meanwhile, in a separate move, a group of electors lost their legal challenge against political pollsters for their first-round predictions.

The group of nine plaintiffs went to court saying the inaccurate forecasts by the pollsters Ipsos, CSA, Ifop and BVA helped Le Pen qualify for Sunday's presidential run-off.

They argued the pollsters should have highlighted the risk that their surveys may be inaccurate by showing the margin of error.

Judge Jean-Claude Magendie rejected the suit, ruling that the pollsters had acted within the law, and ordered the plaintiffs to contribute towards the court's costs.

Abstentions in the first round of voting were a record 28 percent.

Pollster Ipsos has predicted Chirac to win between 74 and 81 percent of votes in the second round of voting on Sunday, with Le Pen scoring 19-26 percent, the daily Le Figaro has reported.