French campaign season marred by racist attacks and violent actions

The French election campaign was fast and tense, and was marked by racist episodes and violent acts.

The far-right Rassemblement National has been fiercely opposed to immigration, which its leader, Marine Le Pen, has said has diluted the meaning of being French. The left-wing coalition, which looks set to win the most seats in parliament according to forecasts released on Sunday, includes firebrand Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who has been accused of stirring up anti-Semitism.

Gérald Darmanin, France’s interior minister, said Friday that more than 50 people — including candidates, their surrogates or supporters — had been “physically attacked” during the campaign. One of them was Prisca Thevenot, the government spokeswoman, who put up campaign posters in her constituency just outside Paris.

Stories of racist attacks circulate frequently online and in the media.

One television news program filmed a couple supporting the National Rally hurling insults at a black neighborand told her to “go to the dog house.”

A television presenter of North African descent revealed a racist letter he had received at home. bakery in Avignon was set on fire and labeled with homophobic and racist labels.

Fatma Bouvet de la Maisonneuve, a psychiatrist with a practice in the Paris suburb of Montrouge, says she has been inundated with new clients since the early election campaign began last month. She sometimes calls twice a day, and some even show up at her office unannounced.

“These are people who are very afraid,” said Ms. Bouvet de la Maisonneuve, whose practice specializes in the effects of racism on mental health. “They are afraid for their children. They are worried about being attacked.”

She said her dual-nationality clients were afraid of the policies of the far-right National Rally. The party has announced that, if elected, it will restrict dual-nationals from holding positions deemed sensitive, such as running the secret service or a power plant. (Initial forecasts on Sunday suggested National Rally would fall short of expectations.)

“They are afraid for their jobs,” said Ms. Bouvet de la Maisonneuve, who is French-Tunisian. “Civil servants are very afraid that the law will become stricter and will be applied everywhere.”