PARIS, September 7. /TASS/. A rally organized by left-wing forces to protest against French President Emmanuel Macron’s policy and calling for his resignation has brought together 26,000 people in Paris, the BFMTV channel said citing the Paris Police Prefecture.
Meanwhile, Mathilde Panot, head of the parliament faction of the France Unbowed (LFI) party, wrote on her X profile that 160,000 protesters took to the streets in Paris alone, while a total of 300,000 people protested across France, where up to 150 different events were scheduled for this Saturday.
Besides Paris, massive rallies took place in Nantes, Nice, Marseille, Rennes and other major cities. Their participants are accusing the president of a ‘coup d’etat’ and violation of the principles of democracy, believing that he should have appointed as prime minister Lucie Castets, who was nominated by the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) after the early parliamentary elections. They resent the appointment of Michel Barnier, a member of the center-right Republicans party, as they believe that this will allegedly give more influence to the right-wing National Rally (RN) party.
Against this backdrop, Jean-Luc Melenchon, founder of the leftist France Unbowed party, said about the onset of the "right of the strongest" in France and called on supporters for a "long-term struggle" against Macron’s policy.