Hundreds of thousands protested across France on Thursday in a show of anger over President Emmanuel Macron’s austerity policies, disrupting much of the country’s public life.

Heeding a call from trade unions, protesters staged a day of nationwide actions, with public transport stalled, schools closed and people taking to the streets for demonstrations marked by sporadic clashes with the police.

One trade union, the leftist CGT, said that more than a million people across the country had taken part in the demonstrations.

French authorities, whose count is usually substantially lower than that of unions, said more than 500,000 people had demonstrated in the country, including 55,000 in Paris.

Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, Macron’s seventh head of government since 2017, vowed a break

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