PARIS (AP) \u2014 Thousands of protesters, including France\u2019s newly crowned Nobel literature laureate, piled into the streets of Paris on Sunday, in a show of anger against the bite of rising prices and cranking up pressure on the government of President\u00a0Emmanuel Macron.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The march for wage increases and other demands was organized by left-wing opponents of Macron and lit the fuse on what promises to be an uncomfortable week for his centrist government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Transport strikes called for Tuesday threaten to dovetail with wage strikes that have already hobbled fuel refineries and depots, sparking\u00a0chronic gasoline shortages\u00a0that are fraying nerves among millions of workers and other motorists dependent on their vehicles, with giant lines forming at gas stations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Macron\u2019s government is also on the defensive in parliament, where it\u00a0lost its majority\u00a0in legislative elections in June. That is making it much harder for his centrist alliance to implement his domestic agenda against strengthened opponents, and parliamentary discussion of the government\u2019s budget plan for next year is proving particularly difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a firebrand speech to the Paris march, far-left leader Jean-Luc M\u00e9lenchon charged that Macron is \u201cfried\u201d and that his leadership is plunging France into \u201cchaos.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He predicted that Macron\u2019s ministers would have to ram the budget through parliament\u2019s lower house without giving lawmakers a vote \u2014 a controversial prospect that provoked loud boos from the crowd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Organizers claimed that more than 140,000 protesters marched. Paris police said they didn\u2019t have an immediate estimate for the size of the dense flag-waving crowd that filled squares and streets. There were a few outbreaks of vandalism on the margins, with garbage bins set on fire and bank machines smashed. Riot police kept order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Demonstrating at M\u00e9lenchon\u2019s side was French author Annie Ernaux, who won the Nobel Prize for literature this year. M\u00e9lenchon \u2014 twice beaten by Macron in presidential elections \u2014 declared the protest \u201can immense success.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Organizers called it a \u201cmarch against the high cost of living and climate inaction.\u201d As well as calling for massive investment against the climate crisis, they also demanded emergency measures against high prices, including freezes in the costs of energy, essential goods and rents, and for greater taxation of windfall profits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lawmaker Christophe Bex of the left-wing party France Insoumise \u2014 or France Unbowed \u2014 called the march \u201ca demonstration of strength\u201d to show \u201cthat another world is finally possible if we are all together and all united.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another marcher, retired railway worker Eric Doire, said: \u201cWhat we want is for everyone to live decently with the purchasing power they had before.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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