French left takes to the streets in protest against Barnier’s appointment as prime minister

Mélenchon announces that they will vote in favour of the motion of censure against Macron and “challenges” the extreme right to do the same

September 7 () –

Thousands of people have taken part in 150 demonstrations across France, in Paris, Strasbourg, Lyon, Nantes and Bordeaux, to protest against the appointment of conservative Michel Barnier as Prime Minister despite the victory of the left in the last legislative elections.

The demonstration was attended by numerous figures from the New Popular Front coalition, including its most visible figure, the leader of La France Insoumise, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who announced that his party will support the motion of censure presented against President Emmanuel Macron for the appointment of Barnier.

“No matter what happens, we will vote in favor of censure of such a government in the National Assembly,” Mélenchon promised in a speech during the demonstration in Paris called to denounce Macron’s “anti-democratic coup.”

“And we challenge all the charlatans who have come to cajole them into not voting in favour of this censure. And especially those who claim to represent the rejection of the system and who are in fact its most constant life insurance. I am talking about the National Rally,” he added. For Mélenchon, “there is nothing above the sovereign people, no monarch, no law other than that which emanates from the people,” he stressed.

Meanwhile, the new Prime Minister has held his first official ceremony since his appointment at the Necker Hospital, a centre specialising in paediatrics located in the French capital, to meet with healthcare professionals.

Youth organisations such as the Union of Students and the Union of Secondary Schools have called for protests across the country with the support of La France Insoumise, environmentalists, the Communist Party, the New Anticapitalist Party and Génération·s, i.e. the entire New Popular Front except the Socialist Party. Various trade unions and civil organisations such as Attac have also joined in.

“The appointment of Michel Barnier is a double denial of the election results (…). On Saturday 7 September, let us mobilise for democracy and for our dignity,” appealed the coordinator of La France Insoumise, Manuel Bompard.

“While the New Popular Front came out on top in the elections, Michel Barnier’s party won 6.5 percent in the legislative elections and has 40 deputies in the National Assembly (…). This denial of democracy is unbearable. Let us condemn this government,” he added.