Marine Le Pen: ‘Europe can’t cope with illegals’

MARINE LE PEN, the daughter of France’s longtime far-right leader who now heads his National Front party, said Europe doesn’t have the capacity to cope with illegal migrants from northern Africa after she toured a centre for illegal migrants on Italy’s southernmost island of Lampedusa.

Protesters yelled “racist” at Le Pen as she toured the island, where some 8,700 north Africans have fled unrest that has spread from Tunisia to Egypt and Libya since January.

Despite her party’s anti-immigrant politics, Le Pen insisted before her arrival the visit is aimed at gathering information, not at provocation. Le Pen, 42, who his stumping for next year’s French presidential race, has been trying to soften the National Front’s image as a xenophobic party.