One of the two daughters of Le Pen and one of her cousins were beaten in Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine), but the cause of the dispute remains unclear, according to police sources.
Present at the Paris Motor Show, Marine Le Pen on Friday denounced the assault on her family members as an “unprovoked attack on young people. And it’s a sad banality”.
She spoke to the microphone of BFMTV, also stating that she had “no evidence” at this stage suggesting that her daughter had been struck because she was the child of the President of the National Rally, known previously as the Front National.
The assault took place around 2:40 am, at the exit of a bowling alley, close to the prefecture and the court of Nanterre. The 19-year-old daughter of the National Rally President and her 18-year-old cousin were hit in the face, according to one source.
The young woman, who was punched hard, was taken by emergency staff to the hospital “on suspicion of a broken nose,” the source said.
Two men, aged 32 and 47, were immediately arrested and placed in custody at the police station in Nanterre, sources in charge of the investigation told BFMTV.
The cousin of the young woman had laid a complaint during the night. According to another police source however, she was instructed to file a complaint during the day.
On Twitter, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, deputy of Essonne and president of Debout France, was indignant: “What a shame to attack children for the ideas of their parents … How far will they go?”
J'apprends avec dégoût l'agression de la fille de @MLP_officiel. Quelle honte de s'en prendre aux enfants pour les idées de leurs parents… jusqu'où iront-ils ? https://t.co/ke1MpMXzeY
— N. Dupont-Aignan (@dupontaignan) October 5, 2018
According to information from le Parisien, the daughter of Marine Le Pen was assaulted on Thursday night in Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine) around 2 o’clock in the morning, in front of an establishment located at Nelson Mandela Square.
While Marine Le Pen was paying homage to Charles Aznavour at Invalides following his passing, le Parisien confirmed that both of the girls were punched in the face.
The daughter of Marine Le Pen allegedly received several punches, just like her cousin.
While the young woman’s cousin hurried to file a complaint at the police station, Jean-Marie Le Pen’s granddaughter was taken to the hospital.
According to the Paris daily, the reasons for this aggression are still unknown, but AFP reported that when the former presidential candidate’s daughter went outside, two individuals approached her and began to “warm her by rubbing her body because it was cold”. Her cousin then intervened to tell the two drunken men to move away from the girl, according to a source.
The source said both girls were kicked in the face as well as all over their bodies. Both men initially denied having gone bowling alley before eventually providing more details, according to a source close to the case.
According to Le Pen, “there was no fight (…), there was an assault, a free assault of two young people aged 18 and 19”. Mainstream media outlets have headlined the attack on the two girls as a “fight” suggesting they had somehow provoked the assault.
“Alas it is the daily lot of many of our compatriots and many fathers and mothers who, like me, do not see our children leave for a student party or for a dinner with friends with peace of mind” added the political leader.
But “this is not inevitable, it is, I believe, the consequence of political choices that have been made for a number of years,” Le Pen added. It is not yet known if the assaillants are immigrants.
Her daughter “seems to be healing, but she is, like any girl confronted with this kind of thing, shocked, and her cousin has taken a hard beating but thank God there is nothing more serious than that,” she added.