The French left took to the streets on Saturday to protest against the appointment of Michel Barnier as prime minister. The 73-year conservative was nominated by Emmanuel Macron on Thursday, sixty days after the left-wing New Popular Front coalition won the most seats in the parliamentary election.
There were dozens of demonstrations across France. The one I attended in Paris was the largest: the organisers, the far-left La France Insoumise (LFI) claimed that 160,000 people descended on the Place de la Bastille. The police put the figure at 26,000. I’d say the police had it right.
Barnier understands that insulting or ignoring Le Pen won’t magically make her voters disappear
Among those present were some of the leading lights of the LFI, including the party’s founder, Jean-Luc Melenchon, and the controversial MEP, Rima Hassan, who has been accused of making pro-Hamas and anti-Semitic statements in recent months. Palestine and not Barnier seemed to be the preoccupation of many protesters, who had gathered in a side street just off the square.
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