Numerous demonstrations are planned for this Saturday, September 7, throughout France, at the call of the new Popular Front and left-wing organizations…
The essentials
- Faced with what several personalities, including Jean-Luc Mélenchon, have described as a “stolen election”, the left is gathering in the streets of France this Saturday, September 7, at the call in particular of members of the New Popular Front.
- Demonstrations have been scheduled in nearly 150 French municipalities to denounce “Macron’s coup” which appointed Republican Michel Barnier to Matignon. The PS has not joined the movement, even if local sections are expected to join the marches.
- The CGT will not participate in the demonstration either, but has set a date for October alongside 9 unions for “a powerful day of strikes and inter-professional demonstrations” in favor of pensions, salaries, employment and public services.
- The demonstrations of September 7 support a procedure for the dismissal of the head of state, which is still struggling to convince within the NFP (LFI, PS, EELV and PCF).
Live
09:47 – The Prime Minister faces his first popular protests
Barely two days after his appointment, the new tenant of Matignon, Michel Barnier, is facing his first demonstrations. Enough to start his term off with a bang, while the Republican must already quickly appoint a government and propose a 2025 finance bill (PLF) for October 1. All under the threat of censure, desired by the New Popular Front.
09:34 – Demonstrations without the PS or the CGT
While the call to demonstrate was supported and relayed by La France Insoumise, the PCF and Les Écologistes, the Socialist Party remained silent. The party did not relay the call to demonstrate, even though some of its local federations will participate. Another notable absence: the major unions also did not take up the call for mobilization, recalls The WorldThe CGT has set its own social return date, October 1, to “build a powerful day of strikes and interprofessional demonstrations”, reports Humanity.
09:22 – Demonstrations in nearly 150 municipalities
Demonstrations against the nomination of Michel Barnier are being organised in nearly 150 municipalities, including Bordeaux (Gironde), Lille (Nord), Lyon (Rhône), Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône), Nice (Alpes-Maritimes), Paris (Ile-de-France), and Strasbourg (Bas-Rhin). In the heart of the capital, the meeting point is set for 2pm at Place de la Bastille. The procession will march to Place de la Nation.
09:06 – Day of demonstrations against “Macron’s coup”
At the call of unions and youth organizations, demonstrations are being organized throughout France to denounce Emmanuel Macron’s “coup de force”, two days after he appointed Republican Michel Barnier as Prime Minister. These demonstrations are supported by the PCF, La France Insoumise and Les Écologistes, who are also calling for demonstrations.
In a press release issued on August 27, the rebels had called for a rally throughout the country, considering that Emmanuel Macron was putting “democracy in serious danger by refusing the result of the ballot boxes and a government of the new popular front”. “We hope that the political, union and associative forces attached to the defense of democracy will join this call”, added La France insoumise. A call to demonstrate that took on new significance after the appointment of Michel Barnier to Matignon this week.
For the left-wing coalition that came first in the July legislative elections, with a relative majority, the President of the Republic’s choice of the former minister and European commissioner, a LR card-carrying member, rather than Lucie Castets, candidate of the New Popular Front, constitutes, according to the terms of the leader of La France Insoumise, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, a “theft”. The rebellious leader has in fact denounced an “election stolen from the French”, assuring that Michel Barnier had been appointed “with the permission and perhaps on the suggestion of the National Rally” and calling for the “most powerful mobilization possible” on Saturday during an anti-Macron demonstration.