Thousands of protesters took to the streets across France on Saturday, responding to a call from a far-left party leader who criticized as a "power grab" the president's appointment of a conservative new prime minister, Michel Barnier. The protests, in some 150 locations nationwide, directly challenged President Emmanuel Macron's decision to bypass a prime minister from the far-left bloc following a deeply dividing—and divided—legislative election result in July. Authorities did not record a huge turnout nationwide, the AP reports. The demonstrators denounced Barnier's appointment as denying democracy.
The left, particularly the France Unbowed party, views Barnier's conservative background as rejecting the electorate's will, further intensifying the EU's second economy's already charged political atmosphere. In Paris, protesters gathered at Place de la Bastille and tensions ran high as police prepared for potential clashes. Some carried placards reading "Where is my vote?" At the head of the Parisian procession, France Unbowed leader Jean-Luc Melenchon spoke passionately, declaring that "the French people are in rebellion. They have entered into revolution." There will be no truce in their effort, he told the crowd, adding, "I call you to a long-term battle."
While Barnier was meeting with health care workers at Paris' Necker Hospital for his first official visit as prime minister, opponents say the unrest in the streets is shaping his government's future. Barnier expressed a commitment to listening to public concerns, particularly about public services. Barnier, 73, is the oldest of the 26 prime ministers who have served modern France's Fifth Republic, per the AP. He replaces the youngest, Gabriel Attal, who was 34 when he was appointed eight months ago. Attal also was France's first openly gay prime minister. French media and some of Macron's opponents quickly dug up that, when serving in parliament in 1981, the new prime minister had been among 155 lawmakers who voted against a law that decriminalized homosexuality.
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