Paris, (EFE).- Tens of thousands of people demonstrated across France this Sunday against the controversial immigration law, four days before the Constitutional Council announces its decision on the validity of the norm.
In total, 164 marches were called across the country to protest against what organizers call “a dangerous turn in the history of our republic,” said the manifesto, signed by 201 figures from various sectors of public life.
75,000 demonstrators and familiar faces
The Interior Ministry counted 75,000 demonstrators nationwide, while the CGT union, the country's second largest union, had 150,000.
In Paris, participants – 16,000 according to the police prefecture – marched between two symbolic locations, the Place du Trocadéro and the monumental Les Invalides complex.
Among the participants were personalities from art and politics, such as the heads of the Socialist Party, Olivier Faure, and the Communist Party, Fabien Roussel.
The decision will be made next Thursday
The Constitutional Council will make its decision next Thursday on the constitutionality of the law, which was approved last December with the votes of Marine Le Pen's far-right Rassemblement Nationale (RN).
The law, passed by both houses of parliament in mid-December, contains conservative-inspired measures since the government does not have a majority in the legislature and needs the support of the traditional right.
New measures
These measures include tightening social benefits, redressing crimes due to illegal stay or tightening family reunification.
On December 22, the Left and Environmental Parties appealed to the Constitutional Council, alleging that up to 24 articles of the law violated the French Constitution.