Thousands of people in France have protested against the appointment of conservative politician Michel Barnier as the new prime minister, who was appointed by President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday.
According to French media, people took to the streets in more than a hundred cities, including Paris, Bordeaux and Nantes. In Paris, the police counted about 26,000 demonstrators, in Marseille 3,500.
The demonstrations were mainly called by the far-left party La France Insoumise (LFI). “The elections were stolen from the French,” party leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon said earlier. The discontent is mainly focused on Macron, who chose the rather right-wing Barnier instead of the left-wing candidate, Lucie Castets.
The left-wing alliance Nouveau Front Populaire (NFP), of which LFI is a part, won the parliamentary elections two months ago, ahead of Macron’s centre bloc and Marine Le Pen’s right-wing Rassemblement National party.
Barnier, 73, faces the task of forming a government that could survive a vote of no confidence in parliament to end France’s political deadlock.