Thousands of people take to the streets of Paris to protest the rise in prices

Thousands of people took to the streets on Sunday Paris to protest rising prices, as weeks of strikes over wage increases at oil refineries prompted calls for a general strike.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the left-wing La France Insoumise party, marched alongside this year’s Nobel Prize winner for literature, Annie Ernaux. He called a general strike for Tuesday.

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“They are going to live a week like no other, we are the ones who have started it with this march”, he told the crowd.

French leftist politician Jean-Luc Melenchon, center, leads a protest march against the high cost of living and climate inaction in Paris, France. (AP/Aurelien Morissard/)

Mélenchon followed in the footsteps of four unions – but not France’s largest, the moderate CFDT – which have called strikes and protests for Tuesday over wage increases.

The four unions also called the protests to help protect the right to strike, after the government ordered the requisition of some oil refinery workers, a move they see as a violation of their constitutional rights.

French police Compagnie republicaines de securite (CRS) use spray on protesters during a demonstration against the rising cost of living and climate inaction called by the French left-wing coalition NUPES in Paris. (CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT/)

Source: Elcomercio