Le Pen launches her presidential campaign in Orleans, leading the polls as France reels

Marine Le Pen opened her presidential campaign on Sunday in Orleans, the city of Joan of Arc, and she told her supporters that France stands at the end of a world. "We are not living through the end of the world but the end of a world, their world," she said of her political opponents. She built the speech around a theme of national Renaissance. "We say: 'Things were good before, they will be better tomorrow.'"

Le Pen promised zero tolerance policing and said restoring security is the first duty of the state. On immigration she pledged to restore border controls, to expel foreign criminals automatically, and to crack down on gangs and drug traffickers. On the economy she pledged spending restraint, lower business taxes, less bureaucracy and support for industry, innovation and artificial intelligence. She rejected any further increase in the retirement age. On Europe she stopped short of calling for France to leave the European Union. She said she would roll back the influence of Brussels, restore national control over borders and laws, put French interests first and keep France out of foreign wars. She closed by leading the crowd in the national anthem. "The future belongs to us," she said.

The timing belongs to the streets. France has spent October in protest over living costs and inequality, and last weekend's marches descended into looting and vandalism in several cities. The turmoil has lifted Le Pen in the polls. A survey published on Sunday put her at 32 to 33.5 percent, well ahead of her nearest rival, the hard left leader Jean Luc Melenchon, at 17 percent, as of October 25. Voters are deserting the mainstream parties for the two ends of the spectrum, and the surveys suggest Le Pen would beat Melenchon easily in a runoff, which voters expect in early May.

The congress was built to show a party united at the top. Jordan Bardella was re-elected president of the National Rally and presented as Le Pen's choice for prime minister. Activists from a Jewish student union interrupted Bardella's speech, drawing attention to accusations that he made antisemitic comments in his youth. He denies the accusations.

Le Pen carries a legal weight into the race. A court convicted her of embezzling European Parliament funds, and she is appealing the verdict. She could have to campaign wearing an ankle tag. She has spent more than a decade remaking the party she inherited from her father, Jean Marie Le Pen, in 2011, softening its image and widening its appeal beyond its anti immigration base. President Emmanuel Macron is reaching his two term limit, so the election in the spring will choose his successor either way. On Sunday, in the city France associates with a young woman who saved the country in armour, Le Pen cast herself as the candidate of order and national confidence in a country that no longer feels either.