No honeymoon for Macron as thousands protest at May Day rallies in France – POLITICO

Thousands of people protested across France on May 1 to urge the government to act on spending power and pensions, putting pressure on newly re-elected President Emmanuel Macron.

While most demonstrators demonstrated peacefully, dozens came company We are damaged in Paris, including a McDonald’s branch, banks, insurance companies and real estate agencies. According to media reports, police intervened after black-clad members of the radical Black Bloc group tried to set up a barricade and halt the march’s progress.

Left-wing politicians wanted to use May Day rallies organized by the unions to mobilize voters ahead of France’s general election in June, arguing Macron only represents the wealthy and has no relation to everyday concerns like the rising cost of living. Macron has dismissed those criticisms, insisting he has sounder economic policies to deal with the problem.

Far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who finished third in the first round of last month’s presidential election, took part in the march in Paris and called on left-wing parties to unite against Macron. His party, France Unbowed, is currently in talks with the Socialist Party about a primary election pact.

Macron easily won another term in the second ballot last Sunday, winning 58.5 percent of the vote to defeat far-right leader Marine Le Pen. But he has acknowledged he faces a deeply divided country.

The general election, to be held in two rounds on June 12-19, is the country’s next political battleground. Both Le Pen and Mélenchon want to prevent Macron’s centrist La République En Marche party from winning a majority in parliament that would give him a free hand to implement his agenda.

“Without MPs to support him, Emmanuel Macron will be powerless to implement his harmful project for France and his unfair decisions for the French,” Le Pen said in a statement Video shared with her followers on Sunday.