French journo booted after approaching far-right leader

A pair of hulking security goons bodily ejected a French journalist and his camera crew from a convention attended by far-right leader Marine Le Pen overnight.

Quotidien reporter Paul Larrouturou's attempt to question the National Front presidential hopeful amid the swirl of bodies attending the Salon des Entrepreneurs event in Paris was quickly rebuffed by security, who forced him off the floor in no uncertain terms.

Video of the incident shows Larrouturou's protests and attempts to barge his way back towards Le Pen bouncing off the barrel-chested, stony-faced guards, who look ready to give the pint-sized reporter a good hiding after several minutes of arguing.

Despite dark suspicions fuelled by Le Pen's cantankerous relationship with the media, which was reportedly on display at an event in Lyon last weekend, the security guards were employed by the Salon des Entrpreneurs and not the National Front.

Larrouturou, however, has had run-ins with the party before. According to South West, he and his crew, then working for the Petit Journal, were set upon by "militants" and beaten with umbrellas at a National Front parade in 2015.

Le Pen's chances of winning the presidency, meanwhile, are looking stronger as the April poll looms, with the party riding the global surge of support for isolationist ideology in the wake of Donald Trump's victory.

Although even its supporters are hesitant to believe that Le Pen could take the top job, some pundits have declared that "all bets are off" after frontrunner Francois Fillon was winged by allegations of nepotism and corruption.

But the National Front, despite polling well and apparently keeping its promises at the grassroots level, is still dogged by a history of anti-Semitism and the notion that it is a "Jekyll and Hyde" political beast.

Critics say despite Le Pen's softening of the party image, it maintains a hardline populist agenda that threatens democracy itself.

"Creating fear to garner support is textbook populism," Socialist councillor Stephane Filipovitch told AFP.

"Here the FN's speciality is charity, but only for French nationals."

Greens councillor Marine Tondelier echoed those concerns, accusing the National Front of hounding NGOs, councillors and local journalists who are critical of it.

"They isolate people who resist and they're quite good at it," she said.