Marine Le Pen, the leader of the French far-right national rally (RN), said the court ruled to ban her five-year “witch hunting”.

“I won’t give up,” she told thousands of supporters of the waste flag, Woburn, who approached the Paris Eiffel Tower on Sunday.

She was found guilty on Monday, with her party embezzling 2.9 million euros (£2.5 million) of EU funds between 2004 and 2016. Le Pen has appealed.

At a rally on Sunday, she claimed the ruling was a “political decision” and added: “We are not asking for compliance with the law, but not the law.”

RN President Badra told the rally on Sunday that the court’s ruling was “a direct attack on democracy and the harm of millions of patriotic French people”.

He said he didn’t want to “smear all judges” but claimed that the verdict against Le Pen was intended to “eliminate her from the presidential campaign” in 2027.

Gabriel Attal, head of the centrist Renaissance party of French President Emmanuel Macron, replied: “You stole it, you pay it.”

Attal also condemned “unprecedented intervention” in French affairs, pointing to Le Pen from multiple right-wing leaders, including Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Hungary’s PM Viktor Orban.

U.S. President Donald Trump called her conviction “very big.”

A poll conducted by BFMTV after Monday’s ruling showed that many in France believe that justice serves the Le Pen case without bias – 57% according to the poll.

The Paris Court of Appeal said Tuesday it should be able to make a decision on the case in the summer of 2026 – months before the 2027 presidential election.

Le Pen is preparing for a fourth presidency and has a great chance of victory.

In addition to the ban on running for office, Le Pen also fined €100,000 (£82,635) and a four-year prison sentence, two of which will be suspended.

This will not apply until the appeal process is exhausted, which may take several years.

RN spokesman Laurent Jacobelli said its 29-year-old President Bardella is the “most natural and legal” alternative, despite the party’s efforts to make Le Pen a candidate.

Bardella has been unclearly discussed at this stage, refusing to say whether he is a “Plan B” of the National Assembly and said after the ruling that the French should be “angry” by the verdict.

But a poll, published the day before Le Pen was sentenced, showed that about 60% of RN voters would support Bardella in the presidential election if they were to run.

French President Macron has no right to sign another term in the next presidential election.