Far right party excluded from French unity rally

PARIS

France's main far right party will not participate in the national unity in Paris on Sunday following the attack at the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, its leader announced Thursday.

Marine Le Pen, the head of the National Front has denounced what she calls the “exclusion” of her party from the "republican march," initiated by France’s major left wing parties.

 "By excluding the FN, the system was able to turn a moment of national unity into a symbol of division and pitiful sectarianism," Le Pen tweeted. 

Different French political parties, unions, associations and religious institutions are preparing to participate in the march as a sign of unity following the attack on the Charlie Hebdo offices that left 12 people dead. 

While most political parties have announced their participation in the march, Marine Le Pen had asked early Thursday for an official invitation by Prime Minister Manuel Valls. It never came.

Quite the contrary, ruling Socialist Party’s vice president of the Ile-de-France region, Julien Dray, tweeted that Marine Le Pen's party had "no place" in the march given its "history." 

Asked about excluding the FN, Valls told RTL radio station that what mattered to him was “national unity, because it is the only answer. But national unity is also about values, deeply republican values: tolerance and refusal of racism."

“Masks have fallen. The national unity is a lousy political maneuver… this is cheap politics, it's pathetic," said Le Pen to daily Le Monde on Thursday.

In the main opposition Party Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), many have denounced the exclusion of the FN. The former prime minister, Francois Fillon said : "We cannot talk about national unity by excluding millions of French."

The secretary general of the party, Laurent Wauquiez, tweeted : "All our compatriots should be involved in this moment of national unity, despite our differences."