French President Emmanuel Macron called on tens of thousands of cheering but increasingly nervous supporters to help him win the "battle between progress and turning back" at his first campaign rally just a week before the first round of the 2022 presidential election.
According to polls, far-right rival Marine Le Pen is gathering momentum and threatening what once seemed an almost unassailable position of strength for Macron, a pro-business centrist elected in 2017.
