Tiberge at Gallia Watch has kindly provided us with updates on the counterjihad rally in Lyon that took place on May 14, 2011. (See previous articles here and here.)

Gallia Watch describes its mission as follows:

To help you stay au courant of what French patriots are doing and saying in this time of turmoil and loss of nationhood. This website is for those with a limited knowledge of French and a boundless interest in saving European cultures from extinction. Leave a comment or send an e-mail to galliawatch.

If you’re a counterjihad blogger, this blog belongs on your blogroll.

Despite the Rain…

The Rally for Freedom, organized as a response to the ban of the originally planned anti-halal demonstration, took place today (Saturday) in Lyon despite the rain. (It’s pouring here on the East Coast also.) Novopress sent this report at 3:30 p.m. Lyon time:

The “Rassemblement pour la Liberté” is in full swing at place Saint-Jean in Lyon. It is taking place under a heavy rain that did not discourage numerous defenders of freedom of expression from coming out but it did interfere with the videos we had planned on showing you.

According to a police source, this demonstration attracted 550 persons despite the bad weather. The organizers counted 600 participants.

The article gives the Twitter address for those who were following the event live.

There were several speeches. Among those who spoke were Philippe Vardon, Jean-David Cattin, Arnaud Gouillon, Fabrice Robert, and also a leader of the English Defence League, Tommy Robinson, who spoke for the first time in France.

A reminder that this gathering took place at the urging of the Bloc Identitaire and Rebeyne [the Lyon branch of the Bloc] after the incredible ban of the “Pig March” by the Prefect of the Rhône.

You can review my earlier article here.

Top and below, two of the first photos of the event.

Lyon, May 14, 2011

Watch this video on YouTube.

This two-minute video gives some idea of the demonstration organized by Rebeyne, the Bloc Identitaire of Lyon. The “Rally for Freedom” had begun as the “Pig March” against the widespread distribution of unlabeled halal meat, but when the Prefect banned the rally on grounds it contravened “laïcité”, it was reorganized as the “Rally for Freedom” and got the green light from the Prefect. Despite bad weather, the rally unfolded without serious confrontations, but there were a few broken windows and a counter-demonstration by left-wing activists whose stated goal is to unite against the “extreme right”.

H/T: François Desouche