Clashes, disruption in France on day of anti-Macron ‘anger’

French protesters were on Thursday staging a day of nationwide protests and strikes in a show of anger over President Emmanuel Macron’s austerity policies, causing widespread disruption.

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Public transport stalled, schools closed down 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.

"Every day the richest get richer and the poor get poorer," Bruno Cavalier, a 64-year-old protester carrying a placard reading "Smile, you are being taxed", told AFP in Lyon, France’s third-largest city.

Protesters remain incensed about the draft 44-billion-euro ($52-billion) cost-saving budget of Lecornu’s predecessor Francois Bayrou, despite the new premier’s pledges to abolish both lifelong privileges for ex-prime ministers and a widely detested plan to scrap two public holidays. More than 80,000 police officers and gendarmes have been deployed, backed by drones, armoured vehicles and water cannons.