Clashes were reported between protesters and police in Paris on Thursday as a demonstration concluded against the government of French President Emmanuel Macron.

Nationwide demonstrations also saw sporadic clashes with police who fired volleys of tear gas at protesters giving loud voice to widespread complaints.

Protesters say that eight years of leadership by France's business-friendly president have benefited too few people and hurt too many.

The day of upheaval for the European Union’s second-largest economy aimed to turn up the heat on new Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu too.

Major trade unions are pushing for the abandonment of proposed budget cuts, social welfare freezes, and other measures.

Macron's opponents complain that taxpayer-funded public services — free schools and public hospitals, subsidized health care, unemployment benefits and other safety nets that are cherished in France — are being eroded by his governments that have lurched from crisis to crisis since he dissolved parliament in 2024, triggering a legislative election that stacked Parliament's lower house with critics of the president.