Nation awaits day of anti-Macron ‘anger’

France was bracing yesterday for a day of nationwide disruption in a show of anger over President Emmanuel Macron’s budget policies, with unions vowing mass protests, public transport set to be paralysed in places due to strikes and officials warning of possible disturbances by extremist elements.

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Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, Mr Macron’s seventh head of government, took office last week, vowing a break from the past against the background of an ongoing political crisis.

But the appointment of the former defence minister has failed to assuage the anger of unions and the left.

They remain incensed about the draft 44-billion-euro (1.66 trillion baht) cost-saving budget of his predecessor Francois Bayrou, despite Mr Lecornu’s pledges to abolish both the lifelong privileges of prime ministers and a widely detested plan to scrap two public holidays.