(2 May 2002)
1. Various of Jean Marie Le Pen and wife Jany arriving at rally
2. Cutaway of Le Pen supporters
3. Pan down from Le Pen supporters to Le Pen with arms in air
4. Wide of rally
5. SOUNDBITE: (French) Jean Marie Le Pen, Presidential Candidate:
"I've heard from foreign sources and even from some national sources that I would have even after conservative estimates that I would have already forty per cent. (Cheering) This is understandable because the fact that Chirac can already double or triple his votes is extraordinary. He doesn't deserve it and I will tell you why, we only have to gain a few more percentage points and its still only Thursday."
6. Wide of Le Pen addressing rally
7. Various of Le Pen supporters cheering
8. SOUNDBITE: (French) Jean Marie Le Pen, Presidential Candidate:
"Let's get prepared for the battle and the victory which will be more difficult to carry than defeat would be. When you are beaten you have to accept it. It's enough to bow your head, as many of our countrymen are forced to do in their own country, so as not to be physically attacked."
9. Le Pen singing over shot of supporters waving flags
10. Le Pen singing and wife, family and friends join him on stage
11. Supporters cheering Le Pen
12. Le Pen with bouquet leaving rally
13. Wide of anti-Le Pen demonstration in Marseille
14. Protester with placard referring to Le Pen's controversial remarks on the holocaust
15. Tracking shot along protesters chanting anti-Le Pen slogans
16. More of protest
17. SOUNDBITE: (English) Chloe Viard, Anti-Le Pen Protester:
"The idea that Jean Marie Le Pen is carrying are really horrible and we want to say that it's not what we want for France."
18. Pull out from banner hanging from balcony to protest
STORYLINE:
Rain dampened Jean-Marie Le Pen's parade on Thursday, as the extreme-right French presidential candidate found barely 3,000 supporters at what was supposed to be a triumphant rally to close his campaign.
The unexpectedly low turnout in Marseilles for Le Pen came as President Jacques Chirac, his rival in Sunday's runoff, held a final campaign rally in Paris that drew about 20,000 supporters.
Le Pen, in a long speech delivered without notes as he paced back and forth by a huge French flag, attacked Chirac for what he said was corruption and failing to address rising crime in France.
The far-right leader drew a roar of applause when he accused governing parties of condoning corruption, kickback deals and shady business practices that amounted to "hundreds of billions of francs."
Le Pen thanked his supporters who showed up despite a steady rain and what he called threats from leftist opponents. Also, he noted that security officials had closed two nearby subway stations.
At the same time, an equally small crowd of anti-Le Pen protesters marched near the Old Port with their own call to arms, a union of all political stripes to thwart what many term a Nazi sympathiser.
Although the multiracial city of Marseille is no Le Pen fiefdom, it is the heartland of Provence where his National Front is the strongest, supported by many bitter veterans of a lost colonial war against Algeria.
Le Pen has been convicted of racism or anti-Semitism five times. He blames immigrants, especially from North Africa, for high unemployment. He wants to deport all illegal immigrants and tighten border controls. But he said many immigrant communities that have integrated into French society support him.
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