Thousands protest in France against new prime minister
The Peninsula
Paris: Thousands of left wing demonstrators on Saturday took to the streets across France to protest against the nomination of the centre right Michel...
Paris: Thousands of left-wing demonstrators on Saturday took to the streets across France to protest against the nomination of the centre-right Michel Barnier as prime minister and denounce President Emmanuel Macron's "power grab".
Protests took place in Paris as well as other cities including Nantes in the west, Nice and Marseille in the south and Strasbourg in the east.
Macron on Thursday appointed Barnier, a 73-year-old former foreign minister who acted as the European Union's Brexit negotiator, as prime minister, seeking to move forward after July snap elections in which his centrist alliance lost its relative majority in parliament.
Barnier said on Friday night that he was open to naming ministers of all political stripes, including "people from the left".
But a left-wing coalition, which emerged as France's largest force after the elections, although without enough seats for an overall majority, has greeted Macron's appointment of Barnier with dismay.