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March in Paris over cost of living

Protesters have marched in Paris, answering the call of leftwing parties and trade unionists hoping to increase pressure on the French government.

La rédaction de Mediapart

This article is freely available.

Thousands of people took to the streets of Paris on Sunday to protest against soaring prices as weeks of strikes for higher wages at oil refineries spurred demands for a general strike, reports US News & World Report.

The leader of hard-left party La France Insoumise (France Unbowed), Jean-Luc Mélenchon, marched alongside this year's Nobel Prize winner for Literature, Annie Ernaux. He called a general strike for Tuesday.

"You're going to live a week like no other, we are the ones who started it with this march," he told the crowd.

Mélenchon followed the footsteps of four unions - but not France's biggest, the moderate CFDT - which have called for strikes and protests on Tuesday for wage increases.

Read more of this report from US News & World Report.