Big anti-austerity street marches and labor strikes gripped France on Thursday, raising the pressure faced by Sébastien Lecornu, the country’s new prime minister, as he tries to pass a debt-reducing budget by the end of the year.
Teachers, railway workers, students and civil servants were among the hundreds of thousands taking part in the demonstrations and walkouts across France, which in recent weeks has experienced renewed political turmoil and growing concern over its precarious finances.
Demonstrators marched through the streets of Lyon, Marseille, Nantes, Nice and other cities under the close watch of the riot police. The authorities have blanketed the country with 80,000 security officers to help contain potential violence and vandalism.
The protests were organized by labor unions angered by the plans of François Bayrou, Mr. Lecornu’s predecessor, to cut 44 billion euros, about $51 billion, from next year’s state budget. Mr. Bayrou was ousted by lawmakers last week and President Emmanuel Macron replaced him with Mr. Lecornu, a centrist and an ally.
But the anger over Mr. Bayrou’s cost-cutting has persisted. It was not immediately clear whether Mr. Lecornu, who had promised a “break” with the past, would scrap his predecessor’s plans or use them as a basis for lawmakers to amend.
Labor unions say that anything resembling Mr. Bayrou’s budget — which planned to freeze welfare payments at their current level — would place an unacceptable burden on lower- and middle-class workers while sparing the wealthy.
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