“Democracy is not just the art of accepting that you’ve won, it’s also the humility of accepting that you’ve lost,” insists Jean-Luc Mélenchon. He was speaking on Saturday at the first demonstration since President Emmanuel Macron nominated right-winger Michel Barnier as France’s prime minister.

One hundred sixty thousand people, according to France Insoumise — twenty-six thousand according to the authorities — came to voice their anger at a denial of democracy. When student organizations and France Insoumise called the rally the previous week, it had been meant to pressure the president to name a left-wing premier from the Nouveau Front Populaire (NFP) alliance. This was the coalition that elected the biggest number of MPs after Macron called a snap election in June.

Holding a cardboard sign with the septuagenarian Barnier’s picture next to one of Joe Biden — “It’s the oldest Prime Minister the Fifth Republic ever had” — and a few headlines from the day of his appointment, teacher David Brunet said the choice was “a whole bunch of bullshit.”