Thousands of leftists took to the streets in France on Saturday to protest President Emmanuel Macron's appointment of centrist Michel Barnier as prime minister.
Demonstrators flocked to Paris and cities across France to support the left-leaning New Popular Front (NFP), a coalition of the Social Democrats, Greens and Communists that is backed by President Macron and won the most seats but not the most votes in last month's parliamentary elections, where Marine Le Pen's National Rally won millions more votes than the NFP.
The protests were called after Macron appointed Michel Barnier, a centre-right former EU Brexit negotiator, as the new prime minister – a move which outraged far-left activists, who called it a “coup” and an anti-democratic move.
Despite its claims of democratic legitimacy, the New Popular Front had called on President Macron to appoint Lucy Castets, a deep state bureaucrat and socialist economist who did not stand in the election, as the next prime minister.
“If we don't get Lucy Castets from the authorities, we will get her from the streets,” said a student protester in Marseille. According to To Figaro“We are marching against Emmanuel Macron's coup, who today is trampling on democratic results and the demands of students.”
In Paris, former presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the far-left Insubordinate France party, also joined the protests and vowed his supporters in the National Assembly would vote to topple Barnier's new government.
“Emmanuel Macron could have appointed Lucy Castets as prime minister. He didn't… because we were going to implement the plan… You are used to cheating! We are not! Whatever happens, we will vote to censure such a government,” Mélenchon declared.
About 160,000 people took part in Saturday's demonstration in Paris, organisers said.
Barnier also faces pressure from the right, with his populist National Rally (RN) party vowing to act as a “refugee” against the new technocratic government after being prevented from taking control of the National Assembly in July elections by a strategic voting coalition of Macron and the New Popular Front.
RN leader Jordan Bardella said Barnier would be a “prime minister under scrutiny”, adding: “Michel Barnier will have to incorporate the themes of the National Rally into his actions.”
“From now on, you can't do anything without us. And despite the unnatural alliance in the parliamentary elections [against us]Oppose us in politics, [our] It was approved,” Bardella continued.
Speaking at his first public appearance at Paris' Necker Hospital, Barnier rejected suggestions that the Matignon inauguration represented a coup, saying: “That's not the spirit. It's about working together and unity.”
“I have been in contact with officials and elected officials from the left and I intend to meet with all political groups, including those who expressed their automatic and advance opposition even before they knew about the government's plans.”
