Marine Le Pen: "All Paris meat is halal"

Pascal Rossignol  /  REUTERS

France's far right presidential candidate and National Front party president Marine Le Pen.

French far right leader Marine Le Pen switched her presidential campaign back to immigration, claiming all meat in Paris was halal, as she tries to head off President Nicolas Sarkozy's attempts to lure her supporters.

At a weekend congress of her National Front party in the northern city of Lille, Le Pen returned to familiar anti-immigration territory, saying she had proof that all meat in Paris was halal and that she would lodge legal complaints against distributors for misleading consumers.

"This situation is a real deception and the government has been fully aware of this situation for months," Le Pen told reporters on the sidelines of the conference. "All the abattoirs in the Paris region sell halal meat without exception."

Exploiting discontent over globalization and the debt crisis in Europe, Le Pen had sought to attract voters by shifting from a traditional emphasis on immigration and French identity to leaving the euro and imposing protectionist barriers.

Her stance struck a chord, especially among working class voters suffering economic hardship since the start of the global financial crisis. Le Pen stands third in polls behind Socialist candidate Francois Hollande and Sarkozy with two months to go before the first round of the presidential vote on April 22. More >>