Defiant Le Pen supporters vow to continue fight

Defiant supporters of French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen greeted the defeated presidential candidate like a hero on Sunday and vowed to carry on their battle in legislative elections next month. ‘‘Jean-Marie, if you knew, how much we the French love you,’’ chanted excited supporters gathered in a marquee in the garden of Le Pen’s elegant villa in the Paris suburb of Saint-Cloud.

With defeat a foregone conclusion, the announcement of the result itself roused barely a murmur in the marquee, which was packed with mediapersons but at that point mostly devoid of supporters, who had been herded away from prying microphones. Moments before Le Pen himself was due to make a speech, a large group of activists materialised. ‘‘Never abandon the fight, never let yourselves be defeated by adversity,’’ Le Pen shouted above a deafening roar. ‘‘Le Pen was made out to be a monster, a hybrid between Frankenstein and Hitler,’’ complained his heir apparent, Bruno Gollnisch.

In the crowd, young women in twin sets and pearls rubbed shoulders with grizzled war veterans, young men in crew cuts and a group of nightclub revellers.