Thousands protest across France after Macron rejects left’s demands – POLITICO

The left-wing alliance won a surprise victory in France’s snap elections, which Macron called after the far-right triumph in the European elections in June. Despite coming first, the New Popular Front fell far short of an outright majority.

The French Greens, the Communists and Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s France Unbowed movement called on their supporters to join the protests. The Socialist Party is the only one of the alliance’s four main members that chose not to participate.

At the head of the Parisian procession, Melenchon spoke passionately, declaring that “the French people are in revolt. They have entered the revolution.”

“There will be no pause, no ceasefire. I call on you to a long struggle,” he added.

Several organizers claimed a staggering 160,000 protesters in Paris on Saturday, with a total of 300,000 across France. But authorities in Paris estimated that only 26,000 protesters marched in the French capital. Le Monde newspaper pointed out that police and organizers have different methods for counting the number of participants, and said the margin of error could be as much as 30 to 40 percent, according to a company that uses cameras.

All four left-wing currents within the New Popular Front, which controls 193 of the 577 seats in the French National Assembly, have announced that they will adopt a motion of no confidence in Barnier’s government.