Thousands expected to march in Paris to protest Macron's PM pick
Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Yes, that's right, I'm here at the Place de la Bastille, which is just a few kilometers
00:05away from Place de la Nation, which is where the protesters will be marching towards. Now,
00:10we're expecting around 4,000 to 8,000 people to take to the streets here. Now, I have to say that
00:15is a revised number. Police were only expecting around 2,000 people when these protests were
00:21originally called at the end of August. Now, of course, the nomination of Michel Barnier has
00:28meant that more people will be coming out to protest against his nomination as Prime Minister.
00:35As we've been mentioning, a lot of the protesters say that the election has been stolen from them.
00:41The elections that took place in July, the second round of the parliamentary elections,
00:47which saw the new Popular Front come out with around 193 seats. They had the most seats of
00:54all the party, but they haven't been given the chance to get their pick for Prime Minister,
01:01Lucie Castaix. So that's why people are going to be out here to protest. Now, we have to say that
01:07police are expecting a little bit of violence. You can see behind me that there aren't many
01:11people that are here right now. The protest's official start time is in just under an hour's
01:16time. And this is normally a busy square anyway, so we're really not sure who's here for the
01:22protests and who's just going about their lives. I have to say I have seen one man who's carrying
01:28a Palestinian flag. Now, of course, the Palestinian flag was one of the main emblems
01:33of the new Popular Front's rally during the parliamentary elections. One of their main
01:42pledges was for a ceasefire to be called in Gaza. So we'll have to see just how many people
01:49come out today. It is raining a little bit, so that could affect turnout.