France: Far-right leader pays tribute to anti-gay historian who shot himself dead over equal marriage
Marine Le Pen, leader of the French far-right Front National (FN), has paid tribute to writer and historian Dominique Venner who shot himself dead after denouncing equal marriage and immigration in a blog post.
He had urged people earlier in the day to join a rally against equal marriage on 26 May and wrote on his website that it would “take a new gesture spectacular and symbolic, to shake up the anaesthetised consciousness”.
On Wednesday, French far-right leader Marine Le Pen said Mr Venner had sought to “wake up the people of France”.
“All respect to Dominique Venner whose final, eminently political act was to try to wake up the people of France,” Ms Le Pen wrote on Twitter.
“It is in life and hope that France will renew and save itself,” she later added.
Mr Venner had described it as a “vile” law, saying it was as “disastrous” for France as the prospect of Islamist rule.
The first same-sex wedding in France is to take place in Montpellier on Wednesday 29 May.
