Protesters demonstrated Thursday against an imminent overhaul of France's labour laws but in far lower numbers than organisers hoped, just days before President Emmanuel Macron's flagship reforms enter the statute books, reports FRANCE 24.
The interior ministry estimated the crowds at 132,000 across France, just over half the numbers who took part last week in the first major street protests organised by trade unions since Macron was elected in May.
The 39-year-old centrist president is certain to welcome Thursday's lower turnout, but he will face more -- and potentially larger -- protests on Saturday called by the hard-left political party France Unbowed.
"What's important today and in the days and weeks ahead is that the movement gets bigger," said Philippe Martinez, the head of the Communist-backed CGT union behind Thursday's marches.
But Macron has insisted his government will not compromise.
The reforms, which will make it easier for companies to hire and fire, were worked out during three months of negotiations with union leaders.
"Democracy does not happen in the street," Macron said in New York on Wednesday, insisting he has a mandate for change after sweeping the board in presidential and parliamentary elections in May and June.
Philippe Braud, a professor emeritus of Sciences Po university, said the government has the upper hand and that the protest movement in France "has been weakening for the past 10 years".
"There's a sort of resignation among the French to reforms that are seen as necessary," Braud told AFP.
Macron has also been boosted by splits in the labour movement, with the CFDT and FO unions so far declining to back the protests and strikes.