The dismissal of President Emmanuel Macron was the main demand at the demonstration held this Saturday in Paris after left-wing organisations and parties called to protest against the formation of the new government, which is expected to take place in the next few hours or tomorrow.
“Macron, impeachment” was the slogan most often seen on the banners and slogans shouted by thousands of protesters who marched between Place de la Bastille and Place de la Nation, organised by student and feminist associations.
Some of the left’s demands could also be seen in the campaign for the early legislative elections on 30 June and 7 July, such as raising the minimum wage to 1,600 euros net per month (it is now 1,400) or repealing the pension reform and lowering the retirement age to 60.
From a truck with a loudspeaker to warm up the atmosphere, the hosts insisted on their messages against Macron and against the new government that should soon be announced under the conservative Prime Minister Michel Barnier.
In particular, against two names of possible ministers from the Republicans (LR, the conventional right-wing party), known to be two hard-right personalities.
These are Senator Bruno Retailleau, who according to leaks to the press could be the new Minister of the Interior, and who advocates a drastic reduction in legal and illegal immigration; and Laurence Garnier, who is opposed to gay marriage and who was in charge of the Family Ministry.
Among the political parties, the most visible by far at the march was La France Insoumise (LFI), with the presence, among other leaders, of the group’s president in the National Assembly, Mathilde Panot, while its leader, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, was in Marseille.
The obvious absence was that of the Socialist Party (PS), which, although it maintains a common position against the formation of the new government designed by Macron with the coalition of the New Popular Front (NFP), does not share some of the LFI’s forms of protest.
In total, around fifty demonstrations were organised this Saturday against the appointment of Barnier and in favour of the formation of a right-wing government.
The impeachment procedure against Macron was launched by LFI and passed the first filter on Tuesday at the National Assembly this week, thanks to, among others, the PS, but there is no chance of it being successful.
Firstly, because the socialists themselves have already warned that they will not vote for it because they consider it to be an instrument designed for cases of high treason that do not correspond to the current situation.
But above all because to succeed he would need to win the support of two-thirds of parliamentarians, which would require the support of Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN), which has already announced that it will not lend itself to “a manoeuvre” to distract “the extreme left”.
LFI justifies this as “a political response” to Macron’s failure to choose the left-wing candidate for prime minister, Lucie Castets, and instead opted for the conservative Michel Barnier.
Source: www.eldiario.es
