Le Pen casts herself as protector of France as troubles swirl

ORLEANS, France — Far-right leader Marine Le Pen shed her anti-establishment radicalism on Sunday to portray herself as the guardian of France in her first presidential campaign rally in Orléans, south of Paris. With polls showing her as the front-runner ahead of the scheduled April 2027 presidential election, Le Pen sought to reassure voters by promising to safeguard France as the country seethes with social unrest and stares down a looming debt crisis. “Even if today the words that spring to mind are ruin, decline … riots and even chaos … we believe in our people and in France,” she said.