New French PM starts job amid protests

PARIS — French new Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu takes office on Wednesday facing a day of protests in a show of grassroots anger.

Lecornu, French President Emmanuel Macron's fifth prime minister in less than two years, takes office two days after a fractious National Assembly voted to oust his predecessor Francois Bayrou's government over disagreements on budget cuts.

Protesters across France disrupted traffic, burnt rubbish bins and clashed with police at times on Wednesday in a bid to "Block Everything" in a show of anger against Macron, the political establishment and planned budget cuts.

In Paris, protesters blocked roads and lit blazes. Police said they had stopped a large group of about 1,000 protesters from entering the Gare du Nord train station in the city.

In the southeastern city of Lyon, protesters blocked a highway running through the city and set bins on fire.

The government's interior ministry announced 250 arrests in the first hours of what was a planned day of nationwide demonstrations against Macron, budget cuts and other complaints.

Budget push

It remains unclear what compromises Lecornu has in mind to push the budget through.

Lecornu, 39, was the youngest defense minister in French history and architect of a major military buildup through 2030, spurred by the Russia-Ukraine conflict. A longtime Macron loyalist, Lecornu is now France's fourth prime minister in barely a year.

A former conservative who joined Macron's centrist movement in 2017, Lecornu has held posts in local governments, overseas territories and during Macron's yellow vest "great debate", when he helped manage mass anger with dialogue.

The $435 billion defense spending package Lecornu championed for 2024-30 represents the most significant spending hike in France in half a century. The money was aimed at modernizing France's nuclear arsenal, augmenting intelligence spending and developing more remote-controlled weapons.

The demise of Bayrou's short-lived minority government heralds renewed uncertainty and a risk of prolonged legislative deadlock for France as it wrestles with pressing challenges, including budget difficulties and, internationally, conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza and the shifting priorities of US President Donald Trump.

Agencies via Xinhua