The China Mail - Clashes, disruption in France on day of anger against Macron

Public transport stalled, schools closed their doors and tens of thousands of people took to the streets for demonstrations marked by sporadic clashes with the police.

Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, Macron's seventh head of government, vowed a break from the past in a bid to defuse a deepening political crisis after taking office last week.

But the appointment of the 39-year-old former defence minister and close Macron ally has failed to calm the anger of unions and many French people.

Many protesters took direct aim at Macron, who has just 18 months left in power and is enduring his worst-ever popularity levels.

Some placards urged him to resign and demonstrators in the southern city of Nice threw an effigy of Macron into the air.

Sophie Larchet, a 60-year-old civil servant, said she came to protest in Paris because of Macron.

"We've had enough, he's tormenting France," she told AFP.

Many protesters complained that austerity measures hit the poorest hardest.

"Every day the richest get richer and the poor get poorer," Bruno Cavalier, 64, said in Lyon, France's third-largest city. He carried a placard reading "Smile, you are being taxed."

- 'Thousands of strikes' -

Protesters remain incensed about the draft budget of Lecornu's predecessor Francois Bayrou, who had proposed a series of measures he said would save 44-billion-euro ($52-billion).

Lecornu has tried to calm anger by promising to abolish life-long privileges for ex-prime ministers and halt a widely detested plan to scrap two public holidays.

More than 80,000 police and security forces have been deployed, backed by drones, armoured vehicles and water cannon.

More than 90 people were detained.

The interior ministry had said between 600,000 and 900,000 people were expected to take to the streets.

But Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said on Thursday afternoon rallies had been "less intense than expected" with more than 260,000 people protesting.

With unions calling for strikes in a rare show of unity, around one in six teachers at primary and secondary schools walked out while nine out of 10 pharmacies were shuttered.

Commuters faced severe disruption on the Paris Metro, where only the three driverless automated lines were working normally.

Trade unions said they were pleased with the scale of the protests.

"We have recorded 260 demonstrations across France," Sophie Binet, leader of the CGT union, said, estimating the turnout at more than 400,000 people.

"There are thousands and thousands of strikes in all workplaces."

- 'Fed up' -

Police in Paris and Marseille used tear gas to disperse early, unauthorised demonstrations. In Marseille, an AFPTV reporter filmed a policeman kicking a protester on the ground, though police said they had been confronted by "hostile" demonstrators.

In Lyon, a France TV journalist and a police officer were injured during clashes between police and a group of masked youths at the head of the rally.

On the outskirts of the northern city of Lille, protesters took part in an early morning union-led action to block bus depots.

"We're fed up with being taxed like crazy," said Samuel Gaillard, a 58-year-old garbage truck driver.

Even schoolchildren joined in with pupils blocking access to the Maurice Ravel secondary school in eastern Paris, brandishing slogans such as "block your school against austerity".

Officials said they expected Thursday's action to be the most widely followed day of union-led protests and strikes since a months-long mobilisation in early 2023 against Macron's widely reviled raising of the retirement age, which the government rammed through parliament without a vote.

H.Ng--ThChM