Protesters took to the streets across France on Saturday to denounce what they call a power grab after President Emmanuel Macron appointed conservative Michel Barnier as the country's new prime minister. Critics say the choice overrides elections that made a left-wing alliance the biggest faction in the French parliament.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators joined some 150 rallies called for Saturday afternoon in Paris, Marseille, Strasbourg, Nantes and elsewhere.
In total some 110,000 protesters turned out, according to Interior Ministry figures.
In central Paris, where police said around 26,000 people joined the march, RFI's sister station France 24 described the atmosphere as "charged up".
Speaking to protesters at the scene, its correspondent Yinka Oyetade reported: "They've said things like they feel their vote has been stolen."
One demonstrator, 21-year-old Manon Bonijol, told news agency AFP: "Using your vote will be useless as long as Macron is in power."
Macron rejected the left's candidates for premier, arguing that they would not survive a no-confidence vote in France's deeply divided parliament.
He is relying instead on the right and centre not to torpedo Barnier, the EU's former Brexit negotiator and a member of the conservative Republicans (LR) party.
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Left mobilised
"A dictatorship is being put in place," claimed Paris protester Alexandra Germain, 44. "They haven't been listening to us in the streets for some time, and now they don't listen to us at the ballot boxes either.
"Protesting is the only way I have to say I don't agree, even if I'm well aware it doesn't do anything."
Originally called by youth organisations, the protests were backed by most of the left-wing parties that make up the New Popular Front (NFP) alliance that came out on top in the snap parliamentary elections held earlier this summer.
Leaders from the hard-left France Unbowed, the biggest party in the bloc, joined the rally in Paris, while fellow members the Communists and the Ecologists also urged their supporters to turn out.
The centre-left Socialist Party remained the notable exception, declining to endorse the street protests while vowing to oppose Barnier in parliament.
The new prime minister, meanwhile, carried out his first official engagement on Saturday, meeting with health care workers at a Paris hospital.
He expressed a commitment to listening to public concerns, particularly about France's public services.
Difficult days ahead
Macron named Barnier prime minister on Thursday, after 50 days of uncertainty and caretaker governance.
The president called the elections in the hope of securing a clear mandate, but instead they produced a hung parliament, leaving him without a legislative majority.
He subsequently ruled out an NFP-led government, along with its pick for premier Lucie Castets, saying France needed institutional stability – which he argued a left-wing government would not provide as it couldn't win a confidence vote in parliament.
Though Barnier brings decades of political experience, his appointment offers no guarantee of resolving the crisis.
France’s new PM welcomed by Brussels but faces uphill struggle at home
His first task is to form a government capable of passing legislation in the French parliament, which is split three ways between the left, Macron's centrists and the right, including the increasingly powerful far-right National Rally (RN).
The RN cited a number of conditions for it to not back a no-confidence vote against Barnier, making it the de facto kingmaker for the new government.
"He is a prime minister under surveillance," RN party leader Jordan Bardella told broadcaster BFMTV on Saturday. "Nothing can be done without us."
In his first interview as prime minister on Friday, Barnier said his government would be composed of members from his own conservative grouping as well as from Macron's centrist camp.
But he stressed that he was willing to work with other sections of the political spectrum too, telling broadcaster TF1: "There is no red line."
Barnier also signalled he would defend some of Macron's key policies, notably his unpopular pension reform, while toughening the government's stance on immigration.
(with newswires)
