Agencies
Paris
Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in France on Saturday to protest the appointment of Michel Barnier as prime minister.
Authorities expected around 15,000 people to take part in rallies in over 100 cities across the country, including Paris, Bordeaux and Nantes.
Protests were being organized by the hard-left France Unbowed party, one of the members of the New Popular Front (NPF) alliance which won the second round of parliamentary elections in July.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, a veteran firebrand from the radical France Unbowed party, called for the “most powerful mobilisation possible” in national marches. Around 130 protests are being held, with the biggest setting out from central Paris on Saturday afternoon.
Mélenchon joined the Paris protest, giving a speech on the back of a float emblazoned with the slogan: “For democracy, stop Macron’s coup”.
The demonstrators are also using slogans such as “denial of democracy” and “stolen election”.
The NPF has reacted furiously after French President Emmanuel Macron refused to nominate its candidate as prime minister and this week chose the conservative Barnier to attempt to form a government.
Parties on the left are angry that their own candidate for prime minister, Lucie Castets, was rejected by Macron, who said she had no chance of surviving a vote of confidence in the National Assembly.
As he took office on Thursday evening, Barnier announced a new political direction for France, but it remains unclear which parties the 73-year-old intends to govern with. There have already been suggestions that Barnier may have to turn to the far right for support. Barnier may be able to survive a confidence vote because the far right, which also won a large number of seats, has said it won’t automatically vote against him.
That has led to criticism that his government will be dependent on the far right. “We have a prime minister completely dependent on National Rally,” Castets said.
Barnier spent Saturday afternoon visiting a children’s hospital in Paris.
