Over 1,000 people attended a memorial ceremony Thursday in central Paris for the founder of France’s main far-right party, Jean-Marie Le Pen, who died last week at the age of 96. The “mass for the repose of the soul” at Notre-Dame du Val-de-Grâce church took place under tight security,

A polarizing figure in French politics, Le Pen was convicted numerous times of antisemitism, discrimination and inciting racial violence.

Through five unsuccessful runs for president, Le Pen espoused racist and antisemitic rhetoric that landed him in legal trouble in France.

PARIS (AP) — Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of France’s main far-right party and a polarizing figure in French politics, is being buried Saturday in a private family ceremony in his hometown of La Trinité-sur-Mer in Brittany.

Jean-Marie Le Pen, who founded France's far-right National Front party, died at 96 years old. Le Pen was a controversial and confrontational figure.

Once called the 'most hated man in France', Le Pen maintained that his ideas were simply 'ahead of their time'

The church Notre-Dame du Val de Grace, in Paris, has been the scene of the tribute with a religious ceremony to the founder of the French National Front, Jean-Marie Le Pen, who died last Tuesday at the age of 96.