For years, the far-right National Rally tried to distance itself from Mr. Le Pen’s racist and antisemitic remarks. But after his death Tuesday, it hailed him as a visionary.

Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of France’s main far-right party, has died at 96. Anti-immigration and nationalist ideas that propelled his decades of popularity remain ascendant in the country, across Europe and beyond.

Marie Le Pen, the founder of France's far-right National Front party who tapped into blue-collar anger over immigration and globalisation and revelled in minimising the Holocaust, died on Tuesday aged 96.

Jean-Marie Le Pen espoused racist and antisemitic rhetoric that landed him in legal trouble in France, where Holocaust denial is illegal.

Demonstrators were seen setting off fireworks and chanting slogans in Republic Square on Tuesday. Earlier that day, Le Pen, the founder of the National Front party, died at the age of 96.

This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis. It was originally published at The Conversation. The death of Jean-Marie Le Pen, former leader of the party once known

The French Left-wing opposition has defended public displays of joy that followed the death of the far-Right veteran Jean-Marie Le Pen.