Over one million marchers turned May Day in France into a mammoth protest against extreme right presidential contender Mr Jean-Marie Le Pen, according to the French Interior Ministry.
In Paris, police said 250,000 protesters joined a march that was snaking through the Place de la Bastille, the heart of France's 1789 Revolution.
The national turnout made today, Labour Day in Europe, by far the biggest protest against Mr Le Pen since he stunned the continent with 17 per cent of the vote on April 21st, edging Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin out of the contest.
Opinions polls have forecast Mr Chirac will win a second term by a landslide on Sunday, backed by a rainbow coalition of mainstream political parties, pressure groups and community organisations rallied behind him to stop Mr Le Pen.
Mr Le Pen fired up his supporters with a fierce attack on election rival Mr Chirac branding his Gaullist rival the "godfather" of a corrupt political system and said he could beat rival Mr Chirac.
"The incumbent president is the godfather of the clans who are bleeding the country dry," he told cheering supporters.
"He stinks of corruption. He is dripping with money.The choice is clear. Come and vote for me," Mr Le Pen said after a two-hour march by Front faithful chanting "France for the French" and "Chirac to Prison, Le Pen to the Elysee".
Waving French flags, Mr Le Pen's supporters carried signs saying "Le Pen for President" and "Proud to be French".
Mr Le Pen (73) laid a wreath at a gilded statue of Joan of Arc, the French medieval heroine the National Front has made its patron saint, before addressing supporters at a rally in the Place de l'Opera square.
French police said up to 10,000 people turned out for the National Front, well up on last year's rally. They dismissed a claim by the party that 120,000 had flocked to the gathering.
Mr Le Pen has said that if he wins, he would hold referendums to take France out of the euro currency, renegotiate European Union treaties and "stop and reverse" immigration to France, which has western Europe's biggest Muslim population.
Up to 3,500 police were on the streets of Paris to prevent a repeat of previous May Day violence between supporters and opponents of the far right, but there were no immediate reports of serious disturbances either in the capital or the provinces.
The Le Pen march coincides with about 70 Labour Day rallies across France by a rainbow coalition that regards Mr Le Pen as a fascist threat to democracy.
Fired by his performance, far-right activists from Italy, Sweden, Belgium and Poland joined Mr Le Pen's march today.
Opinion pollsters predict a landslide on Sunday for Mr Chirac, a 69-year-old conservative running for a second term, with the support of all mainstream parties and a coalition of movements ranging from Gay Pride groups to the French Olympic Committee.