A massive wave of protests swept across France on Saturday, as more than 100,000 left-wing demonstrators rallied against President Emmanuel Macron’s nomination of Michel Barnier as prime minister.
The interior ministry reported that 110,000 people participated in the nationwide protests, with 26,000 gathering in Paris alone. However, a leading left-wing figure estimated the turnout to be significantly higher, at 300,000.
Protesters converged in cities across France, including Nantes, Nice, Marseille, and Strasbourg, to voice their opposition to Macron’s decision.
The president’s centrist alliance had come second in recent snap elections, prompting him to appoint the 73-year-old Barnier, a former foreign minister and EU Brexit negotiator, as prime minister.
The demonstrators denounced Macron’s move as a “power grab” and expressed their discontent with the nomination of Barnier, seen as a centre-right figure.
Barnier said on Friday that he was open to naming ministers of all political stripes, including “people from the left”.
But a left-wing coalition, which emerged as France’s largest political bloc after the June-July elections, although short of an overall majority, has denounced Macron’s appointment of Barnier.
The alliance wanted Lucie Castets, a 37-year-old economist, to become prime minister, but Macron quashed that idea, arguing that she would not survive a confidence vote in the hung parliament.
On Saturday, many demonstrators directed their anger at Macron, 46, and some called on him to resign.
