Protests against the new government of Prime Minister Michel Barnier and the policies of French President Emmanuel Macron took place in Paris. More than 25,000 people came out to see them, reports Liberation, citing the Ministry of the Interior.
According to the publication, the demonstration was organised on the initiative of youth organisations and left-wing parties on Saturday, 21 September. The authorities expected between 20 and 40 thousand people to take to the streets of the capital. According to the Ministry of the Interior, 26 thousand protesters took part in the protests; according to estimates by the protesters themselves, more than 160 thousand people.
According to representatives of the opposition protest movement “Yellow Vests”, the demonstration on the Place de la Bastille was aimed, among other things, at the removal of the president. The demonstrators also called for an end to armed conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Earlier, on September 17, the French Parliament approved the consideration of a left-wing initiative to impeach Macron.
According to a TASS correspondent, the protesters chanted slogans such as “Macron, resign!”, “Down with the Barnier government!”, “The elections were stolen from us!” The demonstrators also expressed their discontent with the fact that the future government will be made up of right-wing politicians and members of the “Together for the Republic” coalition.
Macron dissolved the National Assembly (the lower house of parliament) and called for early elections on 9 June following the victory of the far-right National Rally (RN) party in the June elections to the European Parliament. Following the elections, the country found itself in a political crisis.
In early September, Macron appointed 73-year-old Michel Barnier as prime minister. Previously, he served as head of the country’s foreign ministry. According to a statement from the Matignon Palace (the residence of the French Prime Minister), the political balance is maintained in the cabinet represented by Barnier. However, as Le Monde notes, the country’s new government has seriously tilted to the right, while the left that won the elections is practically not represented in it.
