“An electoral contest is a confrontation of ideas and projects, not a fight,” she said, adding that she wanted a “a tranquil France, a serene France, a France at peace with itself”.

“I challenge him to find one single proposal in my programme that discriminates against French due to their origin, religion, or skin colour because that’s racism,” she said. 

Her pledge to inscribe “national preference” in the French constitution would not discriminate against people on grounds of their origin – as long as they held a French passport.

Nadège, 35, a strategic analyst on holiday from Paris, said you had to hand it to Ms Le Pen when watching the experienced campaigner in action. 

“I have no particular desire to salute Marine Le Pen. I intend to vote for conservative candidate Valérie Pécresse in round one and Mr Macron in the run-off because I don’t agree with Le Pen’s nationalist views and socialist economic programme,” she said. 

“But it’s impressive to see her visit places that are not necessarily full of militants. She has a real proximity to people. You can’t say the same for Macron.”