Closing summary
Sébastien Lecornu, picked by president Emmanuel Macron to be France’s fifth prime minister in two years, took office on a day of sprawling anti-government protests on Wednesday that underlined the depth of the country’s political crisis.
Lecornu, a conservative Macron protege who most recently served as his defence minister, arrived at the prime minister’s residence at midday where he met former prime minister François Bayrou, who was ousted by parliament on Monday over plans to trim the country’s outsized deficit.
France’s new prime minister promised a “profound break” with the past on Wednesday as he faced the thorny task of trying to build a government with enough parliamentary support to avoid an early demise. Lecornu said he would address the nation “in the coming days” to explain his approach, which would be different from the past, and “not just in method”.
The hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party has already announced a no-confidence motion against Lecornu in parliament, for now with no backing from other parties.
Street protests have been taking place across France in a show of grassroots opposition to President Emmanuel Macron, which have resulted in clashes with police and near 300 arrests, as well as some disruption to transport, schools and other services.
Parisian police reported 183 arrests by mid-afternoon, with more than 100 other people taken into police custody elsewhere in France, according to the interior ministry count. Road blockades, traffic slowdowns and other protests were widely spread - from the southern port city of Marseille to Lille and Caen in the north, and Nantes and Rennes in the west to Grenoble and Lyon in the south-east.
A central Paris restaurant appeared to be set on fire during the ‘Block Everything’ protests, France24 is reporting. French TV showed images of flames coming from the building, while a man was seen climbing down via scaffolding on the building next door.
Earlier Wednesday, France deployed 80,000 police nationwide to face demonstrators. Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau warned demonstrators that there would be “zero tolerance” for violence.
Despite a call by a loose left-wing coalition of organisers to “block everything”, that target was only partly achieved. Most high-speed trains ran on schedule, and disruption to the Paris metro was minimal, operators reported. But many schools were blocked, and protesters occupied roads and railway stations across the country.
Protesters in and around Paris built barricades from rubbish bins, blocked schools and roads and pelted police with garbage early in the day. Paris police also reported that about 1,000 protesters tried to gain entry to the Gare du Nord but were prevented from doing so.
In the south-eastern city of Lyon, protesters blocked a road running through the city and set bins on fire, while in the western city of Nantes police used teargas to disperse protesters. In the southern port city of Marseille, police stopped 200 demonstrators from blockading a main road.
Some more images from the day of protest, including what appears to be the fire extinguished at the Wafu Bar restaurant in Paris…
