Marine Le Pen invoked Martin Luther King's struggle for civil rights as her far-right National Rally (RN) party gathered following her conviction for embezzlement that saw her banned from public office.

On Sunday, ahead of the rally, Le Pen urged supporters to take inspiration from King's advocation of nonviolence in the fight for equal rights for black Americans.

"We will follow the example of Martin Luther King, who defended civil rights," she told members of Italy's hard-right League party, who were meeting in Florence, via video-link. According to police sources, 8,000 people were expected to attend RN's rally in Paris.

Besides King, Le Pen also compared herself to Alexei Navalny, Russia's jailed opposition leader who died in an Arctic prison in 2024 after being jailed under President Vladimir Putin.

National Rally's Bardella calls mobilization 'in support of French democracy'

Although Le Pen has said she will appeal her conviction, Jordan Bardella, is being touted as RN's most likely next presidential candidate.

The 29-year-old is the current head of Le Pen's RN and has said the ruling would only boost support for the party. 

Speaking at the rally, he added that Le Pen had been "unjustly convicted" but the far right did not want to "discredit all judges."

Referring to the far-right rally at the Place Vauban in Paris's affluent 7th district, Bardella said it was "a mobilization not against, but in support of French democracy."

Counter-rally leader says far-right 'shows true colors'

In response to RN's planned rally on Sunday, former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal told a meeting of President Emmanuel Macron's centrist Renaissance party in Saint Denis near Paris that the far right was "attacking our judges, attacking our institutions."

Some of those on the left, including members of the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party, also staged a counter rally in Place de la Republique in the capital which attracted several hundred people.

LFI coordinator Manuel Bompard said the far right had shown its true colors after years of efforts to become mainstream.

"The far right is a dangerous party, dangerous for democracy and dangerous for the rule of law," he told reporters. "It is a violent party that even threatens judges when decisions taken by the courts do not suit them."

What was Le Pen convicted of?

On March 31, Le Pen was found guilty of embezzling European Parliament funds and given a four-year jail term — two years of which are suspended and two years to be served under home detention — and an immediate ban on holding public office for five years.

The ban would prohibit her standing for the presidency at the French elections in 2027. Her supporters branded the ruling politically motivated, but Macron insisted that the French judiciary was "independent."

Currently polls seem to indicate that Le Pen, 56, would have easily topped the first round of the two-round presidential vote if she ran. 

US President Donald Trump took to social media, calling the sentence a "witch hunt" by "European leftists using lawfare to silence free speech, and censor their political opponent."

The Paris Court of Appeal has said it will examine Le Pen's case within a timeframe that could potentially allow her to stand in the election if her conviction is overturned or her sentence changed.

Edited by: Wesley Dockery