PARIS: Thousands of left-wing demonstrators on Saturday took to the streets across France to protest against the nomination of the centre-right Michel Barnier as prime minister and denounce President Emmanuel Macron’s “power grab.” Police said that around 26,000 people demonstrated in Paris, while the left claimed a much higher turnout.

Smaller rallies took place in other cities across France including Nantes in the west, Nice and Marseille in the south and Strasbourg in the east.

Macron on Thursday appointed Barnier, a 73-year-old former foreign minister who acted as the European Union’s Brexit negotiator, as prime minister, seeking to move forward after July snap elections in which his centrist alliance came second.

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Barnier said on Friday night 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 force after the June-July elections, although without enough seats for an overall majority, has greeted Macron’s appointment of Barnier with dismay.

The left-wing alliance wanted Lucie Castets, a 37-year-old economist, to become prime minister, but Macron quashed the 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.

“The Fifth Republic is collapsing,” said protester Man­on Bonijol. “Expressing one’s vote will be useless as long as Macron is in power,” added the 21-year-old.

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Hard-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon, whose France Unbowed party (LFI) and allies belong to the left-wing bloc, has charged that the election had been “stolen from the French” and called on French people to take to the streets.

Published in Dawn, September 8th, 2024