Key points
- Nationwide protests greet new government
- ‘Block Everything’ disrupts transport, services
- Macron faces backlash over austerity plans
ISLAMABAD: Protesters demonstrated across France on Wednesday, disrupting traffic, burning rubbish bins and at times clashing with police in a bid to “Block Everything” in anger at the political class and planned budget cuts.
Security forces deployed across the country to try to remove any blockades as fast as possible, officials said, meaning that France was, for now, not blocked. Nearly 200 protesters were arrested across the country, and there were some scuffles.
Sebastien Lecornu, the loyalist picked by President Emmanuel Macron to be France’s fifth prime minister in two years, took office on the Wednesday, the day of sprawling anti-government protests that underlined the depth of the country’s political crisis.
The protests, led by a loose left-wing collective called “Block Everything”, are a baptism of fire for Lecornu, 39, a close ally of Macron who has served the last three years as defence minister, according to AFP and Reuters.
Demonstrators gathered across the country from the early hours, with 80,000 police deployed to keep the peace.
Groups of demonstrators, many masked, built barricades with dumpsters and pelted police with rubbish on the outskirts of Paris.
In the southeastern city of Lyon, protesters blocked a highway running through the city and set bins on fire, while in the western city of Nantes, police used teargas to disperse protesters.
Zero tolerance
Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau warned demonstrators that there would be “zero tolerance” concerning violent actions or blockages of key sites.
Macron’s decision to name a close ally as prime minister “is a slap in the face”, said a protester in Lyon who gave only his first name, Florent.
“We are tired of his successive governments; we need change,” he said.
Macron appointed Lecornu late Tuesday, a day after his predecessor, Francois Bayrou, lost a confidence vote in parliament, forcing him and his government to resign.
Bayrou stumbled over his attempt to implement a package of austerity measures aimed at reducing France’s debt. It remains unclear what compromises Lecornu has in mind to push the budget through.
Diplomatic efforts
“The president is convinced that (under Lecornu) an agreement between the political forces is possible, while respecting the convictions of everyone,” said the French presidency.
Macron, who has been leading diplomatic efforts internationally to end Russia’s war on Ukraine, had faced one of the most critical domestic decisions of his presidency over who to appoint as premier.
Lecornu is seen as a discreet but highly skilled operator.
He had been tipped to take the premier job in December, but in the end, Bayrou reportedly strong-armed the president into giving him a chance.
He becomes the seventh prime minister since Macron took office in 2017, the fifth since his second mandate began in 2022, and the third within the space of the year.
Institutional stability
His first challenge will be to give France a budget for 2026 without suffering the same fate as Bayrou, who lasted just nine months, and then to go on to serve Macron until his presidency ends in 2027.
Lecornu vowed on X that his government would work for “political and institutional stability for the unity of the country”.
The hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party, meanwhile, said Wednesday it would bring a no-confidence motion against Lecornu in parliament.
Wednesday’s actions have had minimal involvement by trade unions, most of whom are planning their own day of widespread strikes and protests on September 18.
While high-speed trains were running normally, as were most Paris metro trains, regional and suburban rail services as well as access to airports across the country, flight schedules were disrupted, including at Paris’s main airports Charles-de-Gaulle and Orly.
Decentralised protests
The decentralised nature of Wednesday’s protests, set to flare up even in the countryside and small towns, is reminiscent of the 2018 Yellow Vest movement that, without a clear political leadership, became a major test for Macron during his first term in office.
The mystery over what protesters like Vasselin are planning is confounding security services, just as President Emmanuel Macron grapples with the collapse of his fourth government in less than two years, reports Reuters.
Paris police chief Laurent Nunez said he suspected the “radical left” was running the protests, organising “spectacular actions”, but without the backing of “civil society”.
Bayrou had insisted 44 billion euros ($52 billion) of spending cuts were needed to rein in France’s debt and stabilise the public finances.
Opponents accused him of trying to achieve this at the expense of wage earners and pensioners while sparing the country’s wealthy from similar sacrifices.
