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US and Iran exchange strikes as Tehran again says strait of Hormuz is closed

Iran and the US exchanged fresh strikes early on Sunday over what Tehran said was unauthorised use of the strait of Hormuz by a container ship, raising further doubts about the prospects of talks to agree a way forward for the vital waterway. The latest flare-up began when the ⁠Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had struck a vessel travelling on an unapproved route and then closed the strait, warning that any retaliation would be met with a “severe response”. “A vessel that had jeopardised maritime security by switching off its systems was struck and ⁠brought to a halt,” the navy of Iran’s ⁠Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said in a statement, without giving further details. A short time later, US Central Command said its forces had carried out a round of strikes against Iran, attacking at least 140 targets. “The United States is imposing a heavy cost by continuing to degrade Iran’s ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial ships freely transiting the strait,” the military said. The targets included missile and drone sites, naval capabilities, ammunition depots, communication networks and surveillance locations, it added. Iran had attacked a Cyprus-flagged container ship, which suffered “significant engine room damage”, and a civilian crew member was missing, US Central Command said. The ⁠United Kingdom Maritime ⁠Trade Operations ⁠agency (UKMTO) confirmed a container ship nine nautical ‌miles east of Oman sustained damage to the rear of ⁠the vessel which caused a fire onboard. Hours later, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait said their air defences were engaging missile and drone threats, while neighbouring Bahrain sounded air raid sirens. The UAE said explosions heard across the country “are the result of ongoing engaging operations of missiles and UAVs”. Bahrain’s interior ministry urged citizens and residents to remain calm and head to the nearest safe place. Iran’s IRGC later said it had struck ⁠and disabled a second ⁠vessel in ‌the strait ‌and targeted the US air base ‌at Al Udeid in Qatar with ballistic missiles, destroying ⁠its fighter jet maintenance centre and command and ‌control facility. The strait, the IRGC said, was now closed “until further notice” and at least until “the end of US interference in this region”. The latest incident comes amid efforts in Oman to discuss the fate of the strait. Iran’s foreign minister ‌Abbas Araqchi met Omani counterpart Sayyid Badr Albusaidi to exchange “views on appropriate mechanisms for the safe passage of ‌ships through the strait of Hormuz”, according to a statement from Tehran. A senior Iranian source told Reuters that Iran, the US, Qatar and Pakistan had agreed to negotiate in a call that ‌mediators were trying to arrange for Saturday while Araqchi was in Oman. It was not immediately clear whether the efforts were successful. The latest diplomatic moves followed exchanges of rhetoric on Saturday between Tehran and Washington. Iran’s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, vowed revenge for the killing of his father and predecessor, hours after US president Donald Trump threatened severe reprisals in the event of any attempt on his life. “Vengeance is the will of our nation and must inevitably be carried out,” new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei said in a written message. “This matter depends neither on my personal existence nor on that of other officials. Whether we are present or not, it will come to pass,” he wrote in his first message since his father’s funeral this week. He said Iran had compiled a list of individuals to be targeted. Both sides carried out exchanges of fire earlier this week, rocking an interim agreement aimed at ending the war, which broke out in late February with massive US-Israeli strikes that killed the then supreme leader Ali Khamenei. Trump has declared the ceasefire over while leaving the door open for talks, and mediators have been trying to salvage a diplomatic solution, with Iranian media reporting that a delegation from Qatar travelled to Iran on Friday. Hours earlier, Trump had posted on his Truth Social platform that any attempt to assassinate him would lead the United States to “completely decimate” Iran. “1000 missiles are locked and loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, with thousands of more to immediately follow, should the Iranian government act on its threat, pronounced in many corners of the globe, to assassinate, or attempt to assassinate, the sitting President of the United States of America, in this case, ME!,” he wrote. News outlets Axios and Politico reported that Washington has given Tehran until Saturday to stop firing on commercial ships transiting Hormuz and acknowledge the waterway is open. With Agence France-Presse and Reuters

EU accused of dragging its feet over ban on trade with illegal Israeli settlements

The EU has been accused of dragging its feet over upholding international law, on the eve of a long-awaited debate about banning trade with illegal Israeli settlements. EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday will discuss a possible ban on imports from the settlements, against an ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where a UN inquiry found Israel to be committing a genocide, and surging state-backed violence in the occupied West Bank, which has killed at least 235 children. But the 27 ministers are not expected to take decisions about trade amid persistent divisions about how to respond to Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his government. A part or total ban on imports from settlements is one of three options presented by the European Commission in a paper seen by the Guardian. The other two options are high tariffs that make trade economically unviable or an import licensing system. The leaked paper was first reported by Euronews. Written in cautious, bureaucratic language, the paper notes that the options “can have a substantive impact on the EU-Israel relationship, also in view of the upcoming election”, underscoring that the commission is mindful of Israel’s general election later this year. Israelis are due to go to the polls by 27 October, the first electoral test for Netanyahu since the 7 October 2023 terror attacks by Hamas. Under the EU-Israel agreement, goods from the occupied Palestinian territories (the Golan Heights, Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem) are not entitled to the preferential trade terms that apply to Israel. At least 10 European member states, including Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain, say the EU has an obligation to end trade with occupied territories, following a ruling from the international court of justice (ICJ) in 2024 that called on Israel to end its occupation of the Palestinian territories “as rapidly as possible”. The ruling found multiple breaches of international law by Israel including activities that amounted to apartheid. It said that states had to “take steps to prevent trade or investment relations that assists in the maintenance of the illegal situation created by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory”. This call to end trade with the settlements is backed by more than 100 legal scholars, who wrote to the European Commission’s most senior trade and foreign policy officials this month affirming the EU’s “international legal obligation”. Ignacio García Bercero, a former senior trade official at the commission, who signed the letter, said: “The only way to ensure compliance with the opinion of the ICJ is a ban on trade with the illegal settlements. Any other option will not be effective in view of Israeli policy to compensate settlement producers from tariffs paid on their exports to the EU.” A recent investigation by NGO Global Echo found that Israeli exporters benefit from illegal tax breaks for products cultivated in settlements, while Israeli tax authorities permit misleading labels. One in six shipments that the NGO investigated contained agricultural products that had originated in settlements in occupied Palestinian territory and the Syrian Golan Heights, at least 42% of which had been mislabelled as Israeli-grown. But the EU is not expected to act anytime soon, amid an ongoing dispute about whether a ban on trade with illegal settlements can be done via a qualified majority vote or requires unanimity. After Monday’s meeting, EU foreign ministers will not gather in a decision-making format until October. The maximalist outcome from Monday, sources suggested, could be a call from a simple majority of member states to demand a legal proposal on ending illegal settlement trade. Alberto Alemanno, a law professor at the HEC Paris business school, said: “Each month of delay doesn’t just postpone compliance, it deepens the EU’s own legal liability for sustaining trade with an unlawful occupation.” One senior EU diplomat said it had been “a tough battle” to get the options paper, adding that there had not been “joyful cooperation” from the commission, which is responsible for drafting EU laws. Claudio Francavilla, an associate director at Human Rights Watch, said: “It is astonishing a ban is still presented as an ‘option’, when it’s the only measure that complies with international law.”

Toronto shooting: two dead and four injured at Salsa on St Clair street festival

A shooting near a Toronto street festival killed two men and wounded four other people on Saturday evening, police said, adding that what initially prompted an active-shooter warning was an exchange of gunfire between two people targeting each other. Toronto police deputy chief Frank Barredo said investigators recovered two firearms after the shooting, which was reported at 8.12pm near St. Clair Avenue West and Arlington Avenue, where the Salsa on St Clair festival was underway. No suspect or suspects had been arrested by the time of a late-night news conference, however Barredo confirmed both of the deceased were men. Officers initially urged the public to avoid the area before later announcing the scene had been secured. “There was some concern about an active shooter. That turned out not to be the case,” Barredo said. But the two gunmen involved in the shooting “indiscriminately put vast numbers of people in danger”. Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow said: “I’m deeply disturbed and angry about this reckless and irresponsible act of violence right in the middle of a festival attended by families.” Valerie Rodriguez said she was sitting outside a nearby restaurant when people suddenly began screaming and running. “A bunch of people … told us to lay down onto the floor,” she said. “We got scared because we didn’t know exactly what was happening.” Festival vendor Patsy Gutierrez said she was serving customers when she saw “a huge wave” of people fleeing. “Everybody started getting frantic and then we stopped serving,” she said. “I don’t think it should be something that’s happening at these types of events.” A large police presence remained around the festival, an annual celebration of Latin American culture that draws thousands of people to Toronto’s St Clair West neighborhood for live music, dancing, food and cultural performances. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was “horrified” by the shooting and said ‌the police had his full support in their efforts to apprehend those responsible, in a post on X. “My prayers are with the families grieving their loved ones, those who are in critical condition and everyone who has been affected by this ⁠horrific event,” he said. Ontario Premier Doug Ford said in a social media post that his thoughts were with the victims, families and others affected by the shooting. “I am devastated by the senseless violence at the Salsa on St. Clair Festival that has claimed two lives and injured others,” Ford said. Toronto, Canada’s largest city, is among North America’s safest major cities. Fatal shootings, particularly those involving multiple victims in public places, are relatively rare. “Toronto is one of the safest cities in the world but we are 3 million people and unfortunately we are not immune,” Barredo said.

Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy decries housing of weapons in civilian area after Russian strike kills 10

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said officials who ⁠allowed weapons warehouses to operate in a residential area outside Kyiv, where ⁠explosions killed 10 ⁠people, had been identified and would be held accountable. A Russian strike earlier this week on ⁠the small town of Vyshneve on Kyiv’s western outskirts hit a warehouse containing arms, ⁠setting off a series of secondary explosions. Hundreds of houses were damaged. The Ukrainian president ‌said an investigation ‌by the Ukrainian Security Service had established which officials ‌at the state weapons producer Ukroboronprom had authorised use of the warehouse. “This was a direct violation of both the law and a decision of the supreme commander-in-chief’s staff,” he said. “The responsible ‌officials have been identified and the state’s position is that each of them must be held accountable.” He added: “Every enterprise manager must ensure that ‌such tragedies are never repeated.” The issue sparked a public outcry, with residents claiming negligence and a lack of information from officials. Zelenskyy’s announcement came as Russian missile and drone attacks in Ukraine on Saturday killed eight people, including a child, and wounded dozens more, officials said. Two glide bombs hit a crowded area in the northern city of Sumy, a frequent Russian target, killing five people and injuring 30.In a border district of Sumy region, where the Kremlin wants to expand a buffer zone, an official said a man ⁠was killed after stepping on an explosive device. Glide bombs also injured 10 in the south-eastern city of Zaporizhzhia, the regional governor said. Two people were killed and another wounded earlier in the day by a missile strike on the southern port city of Odesa. The injury toll from Saturday’s strikes on the capital Kyiv rose to 12, including two children, according to the city’s mayor. Zelenskyy said Russia launched more than 120 drones and 12 missiles during the night, half of them ballistic. “Civilian infrastructure was hit even before the air raid alert was issued,” he added. He posted videos of emergency teams working in the smoke and rubble of ruined buildings. Apartment buildings, offices and a theological school were damaged in Kyiv, while recovery efforts were under way in other regions, he added. Zelenskyy said air defences “managed to shoot down most of the targets – but not the ballistic ones”. He repeated his plea for allies to send more military aid to help it fight off the Russian invasion, now well into its fifth year. Russia has stepped up attacks on the capital in recent weeks. So far this month, strikes on Kyiv and the surrounding region have killed more than 60 people. Saturday’s strike on Kyiv marked the second time in less than a week that missiles hit before an air alert was issued. Sergiy Sternenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s defence minister, said the strike happened before the sirens could indicate Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missiles were incoming. “During ground attacks, these missiles are more difficult to detect by radar,” he said. “There is no military logic to such attacks. It is simply terrorism for the sake of terrorism.” Russia, which denies targeting civilians, said it had struck “military-industrial facilities in Kyiv and seaport infrastructure in Odesa”. Zelenskyy ⁠also said on Saturday that diplomacy should ⁠focus on ⁠getting Kyiv’s allies to follow through more ⁠quickly on arms-supply agreements. “I am preparing changes ⁠in Ukraine’s diplomatic efforts. ‌We need a ‌new level of cooperation ‌with our partners to ensure that agreements on arms supplies are fulfilled,” Zelenskyy said ‌in his nightly video address. “Agreements reached by national leaders must be implemented much more quickly and completely,” he ⁠said, saying this applied to cooperation with the United States on licensing for ‌the production of Patriot air defence systems. Ukraine’s drone forces chief Robert Brovdi ‌said his units had struck 21 fuel tanker vessels in the Sea of Azov overnight, as well as seven other cargo and support ships, bringing the total number of vessels struck this week to 76. Zelenskyy has said the aim of the drone campaign is to bring Russia to the negotiating table, although Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, has not yet shown any willingness to soften his position. One person was killed in a drone attack on four vessels, including a tanker carrying methanol, in Taganrog Bay on the Sea of Azov, Russian authorities said on Saturday. “A seaman on a technical support vessel has lost ⁠his life. I offer my condolences to the family ‌and loved ones ‌of the deceased. No one else was ‌injured,” Yuri Slyusar, governor of the southern Rostov region, wrote on Telegram. He said the vessels sustained various degrees of damage, but “there is no ‌risk of a methanol spill or leak.” Russian ⁠troops ⁠took control of the ⁠settlement ⁠of Bachivsk ‌in ‌Ukraine’s ‌Sumy region, the ‌defence ministry said on Saturday. The ‌battlefield report ⁠could not be immediately independently verified. Authorities in Russia’s Novosibirsk region have urged residents to work remotely and limit travel by car, amid a deepening fuel crisis triggered by Ukrainian strikes on oil refineries. The region, home to almost three million people, is one of the largest in Siberia by population and a major economic and manufacturing hub. The announcement comes after Ukraine struck an oil refinery in the neighbouring region of Omsk earlier this week, knocking out one of Russia’s largest oil processing facilities by capacity.

Venezuela quake death toll passes 4,300 as scale of recovery effort looms large

The death toll in Venezuela’s devastating twin earthquakes has passed 4,300, the government said on Saturday. At least 4,333 people were killed and 16,740 injured in the back-to-back quakes on 24 June that flattened entire districts in the coastal state of La Guaira, the Venezuelan parliament chief, Jorge Rodríguez, wrote on Telegram. Thousands more people are listed as missing. A 7.5-magnitude quake – the biggest in Venezuela in over a century – struck 39 seconds after a 7.2-magnitude shock, flattening entire high-rise apartment blocks. Although rescue teams have halted searches for survivors, family members continue to scour the ruins for their loved ones in the hope of giving them a dignified burial. On Friday, a 3.0-magnitude quake in central Caracas caused momentary panic and led to buildings being evacuated. The scale of the recovery effort facing Venezuela, where state services have been severely degraded by a prolonged economic crisis, is huge. The United Nations on Wednesday issued an urgent appeal for nearly $300m towards earthquake relief operations to assist 1.3 million people in urgent need of aid in the South American country where non-governmental organisations until recently were targets of government repression. Mobile kitchens and clinics as well as field hospitals now dot public spaces in the northern state of La Guaira, where most of the devastation occurred. The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction has estimated direct physical damage to housing and infrastructure at about $37bn. Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, has called for the release of frozen assets held abroad to be used towards the recovery. On Wednesday she said she had asked King Charles to release about 30 tons of Venezuelan gold frozen under UK sanctions. Delcy Rodríguez has defended her country’s emergency response to the twin earthquakes, vowing the country would not descend into social unrest. Many Venezuelans have expressed anger at what they see as the US-backed government’s inadequate response to the disaster before international teams arrived. With Agence France-Presse and Associated Press

US congressman says he was detained by armed Israeli settlers in occupied West Bank

The US congressman Ro Khanna says armed Israeli settlers detained him during a visit to the Israel-occupied West Bank recently, describing the experience as a first-hand view of the realities faced by Palestinians living under occupation. In an interview with Reuters on Thursday from a Palestinian village, the progressive US House Democrat from California said his detention happened the previous day while his delegation visited an area of the southern West Bank that has experienced repeated attacks by Israeli settlers. Khanna recounted how settlers carrying US-made M4 rifles surrounded the group’s van. “We were at a village that Israeli settlers had destroyed – they had destroyed the school, they had destroyed that village, and we were just looking at it,” Khanna said. Referring to the Israel Defense Forces, which are funded in part by US military aid, Khanna continued: “And these hoodlums … detain us. They block off the road. And then they call the IDF and the IDF is on their side, not on the side of the Americans.” Khanna also told Reuters: “I saw the arrogance in the eyes of those settlers, 21- and 22-year-olds with guns, laughing that they had detained us, the arrogance of those young IDF soldiers that my tax dollars are funding – having no respect for the fact that they were detaining Americans, no respect that there was an American congressperson in that bus, and laughing when our translator told them that there are Americans there and the American embassy is concerned.” Khanna aide Cameron Kasky wrote on X that he was there when the congressman’s group was detained, saying: “The IDF showed up to back up the settlers, not the US congressman.” Khanna added that the encounter illustrated “the arrogance of power – of a power that has had no accountability, total impunity – and it’s created a toxic culture of oppression”. The New York Times first reported Khanna’s account on Saturday morning. He told the outlet: “I felt powerless in that situation, which is not an easy thing, as I have a lot of privilege in life. “Imagine how people feel every day, Palestinians under the occupation, if they could make an American congressperson feel powerless for 90 minutes.” Khanna said he and his group were ultimately able to continue traveling after contacting the US embassy and Israeli police. The Israeli military said troops and police responded after receiving a report that settlers were obstructing vehicles near Khirbet Zanuta, according to Reuters. Khirbet Zanuta is a Palestinian hamlet whose residents were forced to leave in the wake of violent settler raids after the Hamas attacks on Israel in October 2023. Asked by Reuters whether he intends to run for president, Khanna replied: “I’m strongly considering it. And I’m more resolved to consider it after this trip.” More than 700,000 Israelis reside in settlements across the occupied West Bank including East Jerusalem. The United Nations considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank to be illegal, and Israel has faced repeated criticism over violence and other actions by settlers in the territory. Since Israel took control of the West Bank in 1967, restrictions imposed there have prevented the territory from developing a self-sustaining economy. Those restrictions intensified significantly after the deadly 7 October 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel. Nearly 300,000 Palestinians have lost employment in the West Bank and Israel. A June report issued by a UN independent international commission of inquiry concluded that “Israeli authorities and security forces have deliberately targeted Palestinian children resulting in genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in the Gaza Strip and war crimes in the West Bank”. According to data from human rights organisation Yesh Din, no Israeli has been indicted for the killing of a Palestinian since October 2023. Khanna has been one of the most outspoken critics in the US Congress of the war in Gaza and the occupation of the West Bank, often clashing with his own party’s establishment. In May, he released a video criticizing the Democratic National Committee’s incomplete postmortem report on the defeat that the party suffered at the hands of Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election. The postmortem did not mention Gaza. In his video, Khanna said: “As someone who campaigned in Michigan and Wisconsin, let me tell you – one of the reasons we lost is our blank check to Israel and [prime minister Benjamin] Netanyahu while they committed genocide in Gaza. “We must speak and confront hard truths if this party is to win” the 2028 presidential election, he added. Reuters contributed reporting

Nigeria says army has killed 300 bandits in north-western state of Zamfara

Nigerian soldiers killed more than 300 members of kidnapping and cattle bandit gangs in the north-western state of Zamfara this week, according to a government official. Government troops targeted the gangs in Gummi district in a two-day operation that “led to the elimination of more than 300 terrorists”, Zamfara’s information commissioner, Mahmud Muhammad Dantawasa, said in a statement. Gangs made up of cattle rustlers and jihadists have terrorised communities in northern and central Nigeria, where they raid farmers’ land, steal cattle and kidnap people for ransom. They also impose levies on farmers who want to access their own land in protection rackets. Jihadists and criminal gangs have been cooperating in recent years, according to security analysts, who say their mutual interests align. Criminal gangs have become widespread in impoverished rural Nigeria, while jihadists continue to wage a 17-year insurgency in the north of the country. Both are invested in a weak central government. Residents of Gummi said soldiers and local vigilantes had launched a campaign on Wednesday night against about 1,000 bandits who had stolen livestock. “The soldiers and the vigilantes killed more than 300 bandits in the fight which raged all night and the following morning,” Abubakar Muhammad told Agency France-Presse. Troops had tried to launch an assault on the bandits’ camp two weeks ago but were outnumbered and were forced to withdraw, residents said. The Zamfara government said the operation had been a significant breakthrough in its fight to restore order to the state. Nigeria faces a number of security crises, with an Islamist insurgency by Boko Haram and its rival, the Islamic State West Africa Province. The government has killed jihadists in recent months in partnership with the US, which has deployed hundreds of troops to the country to support its fight against Islamists. A joint US-Nigeria operation in May killed the second-in-command of Islamic State and about 200 fighters in a village in north-east Nigeria. Nigeria also struggles with general lawlessness and banditry, fuelled by poverty. Jihadists and bandits have long used mass kidnappings of elementary-schoolchildren to extract ransom payments and pursue other demands. The army said on Saturday that it had suffered “casualties” during the rescue of more than 40 kidnapped children who were taken by what authorities said were jihadists. The kidnapping had come as a shock because it happened in the south-west of the country, previously thought to be relatively safe.

‘Politicians have always been schemers’: upheld conviction fails to dent Le Pen’s popularity

In the small French town of Montargis, Jean-Antoine, a retired decorator, was pleased Marine Le Pen had again shaken up French politics by launching a bid for the presidency, despite her legal woes. “Even the judges said she didn’t personally profit from the money, it was for her party,” he said of Le Pen’s newly upheld conviction for embezzlement. “All politicians in France have always been schemers, it’s just a fact of life.” Jean-Antoine, 76, who once painted luxury fashion stores, felt voters for the figurehead of France’s far-right, anti-immigration party National Rally (RN) wouldn’t care about this week’s appeal court decision over Le Pen’s misuse of European parliament funds. Jean-Antoine’s late father fled to France from Spain during its civil war in the 1930s and became part of the French resistance standing up to occupation by Hitler’s Germany. “But now immigration has to stop,” he said. Le Pen’s conviction last year had meant she was barred from running for office until the 2030s, but that restriction was shortened by appeal judges this week. This allowed her to declare a phoenix-like return to the presidential race, which will be voted on next year. The court’s decision came despite its ruling that she was guilty of playing a key part in siphoning off of more than €2.8m through a fake-jobs scam of unprecedented scale and duration, and funnelling it to her cash-strapped party between 2004 and 2016. Judges ordered her to wear an electronic ankle tag for one year with a curfew at her home, but she has vowed to lodge an appeal with France’s highest court, which will effectively put her conviction and sentence on hold while she campaigns ahead of the presidential vote. Snap polling this week showed her popularity is high and she is in a strong position for the two-round vote next April and May. She previously lost to Emmanuel Macron in 2017 and 2022. Montargis, 75 miles south of Paris, is known for its scenic canals and its pralines. It is one of many towns that elected rightwing mayors in local elections earlier this year, when RN and its allies more than tripled the number of town halls under their control. “When they won here, I went to the town hall and I said: ‘I don’t know if you can do any better than the last lot but you can’t do any worse,’” said Jean-Antoine. “And that’s what I’d say to Marine Le Pen. People want change.” Another local person, an antiques dealer in his 60s who did not want to be named, said: “People will still vote for Le Pen because there’s massive pressure for change. Immigration, benefits, the healthcare system – none of that is working properly and people have had enough. Le Pen’s legal case feels unfair – a leftwing politician wouldn’t have been treated the way Le Pen was by the justice system.” Montargis played its part in the gilets jaunes anti-government protests of 2018 and 2019, with its new RN mayor, Côme Dunis, now 36, as an active participant. In 2023, there was unrest in the town and damage to shops and businesses when rioting spread across France after Paris police shot and killed Nahel Merzouk, a 17-year-old boy of Algerian and Moroccan descent, when he failed to comply with an order to stop his car. RN’s election gain in Montargis, where it took votes from the traditional right, was viewed as a reflection of Marine Le Pen’s 15-year attempt to detoxify the party’s image – changing its name while keeping its hardline anti-immigration policy. Co-founded in 1972 as the Front National by Marine Le Pen’s father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, it has long been seen by its critics as a danger to democracy and as a promoter of racist, antisemitic and anti-Muslim views. Gisèle, 84, a recently retired girls’ gymnastics coach and competition judge from the area, said the fear of crime and drug-dealing was increasing. She was glad Le Pen was running, but felt the embezzlement conviction could hinder her. “I think this could put a brake on her,” she said. Le Pen’s decision to stand for president means that her party’s president, Jordan Bardella, will not now run in her place. The 30-year-old had been broadening RN’s voter base by appealing to more bourgeois, higher-income voters from the traditional right. “I’m disappointed Jordan Bardella isn’t running for president,” said Christiane, a chiropodist. “Bardella is young, he’s close to the people, he had a chance. I like Marine Le Pen, but is France really going to elect a president with a conviction?” Céline, a pharmacist and centrist voter, said: “I don’t think it’s right to run for French president if you have been convicted.” Selma, 48, a mother-of-three whose Tunisian grandfather was decorated for fighting for France in second world war, said she feared Le Pen’s growing presence in the campaign was polarising people. “I’m worried about deep divisions in society,” she said. “Racism is becoming more brazen. The other day I was verbally assaulted in a car park. A woman who wanted my parking spot humiliated me in a racist way, saying she was more French than I was. We’re all human and we don’t choose our skin colour or our origins.”