PARIS: French protesters were on Thursday (Sep 18) staging a day of nationwide protests and strikes in a show of anger over President Emmanuel Macron’s austerity policies, causing widespread disruption.
Public transport stalled, schools closed down and tens of thousands of people took to the streets for demonstrations marked by sporadic clashes with the police.
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, Macron’s seventh head of government, vowed a break from the past in a bid to defuse a deepening political crisis after taking office last week.
But the appointment of the 39-year-old former defence minister and close Macron ally has failed to calm the anger of unions and many French people.
“Every day the richest get richer and the poor get poorer,” Bruno Cavalier, a 64-year-old protester carrying a placard reading “Smile, you are being taxed”, told AFP in Lyon, France’s third-largest city.
Protesters remain incensed about the draft €44-billion (US$52-billion) cost-saving budget of Lecornu’s predecessor Francois Bayrou, despite the new premier’s pledges to abolish both life-long privileges for ex-prime ministers and a widely detested plan to scrap two public holidays.
More than 80,000 police officers and gendarmes have been deployed, backed by drones, armoured vehicles and water cannons.
Between 600,000 and 900,000 people are expected to take to the streets across France, according to interior ministry estimates ahead of the demonstrations.
As of Thursday noon, more than 76,500 people had taken to the streets, with the rallies so far “less intense than expected,” said Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau.
