GETTY Emmanuel Macron faces hostile protests across France

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Tens of thousands of demonstrators are preparing to take to the streets in protest at the new employment laws and the marchers have been spurred on by Mr Macron’s remarks. Critics said the comments proved Mr Macron, a former merchant banker, was arrogant and out of touch with the concerns of ordinary French families. The president has underlined his determination to drive through measures he insists are essential to reduce unemployment from 9.5 per cent to seven per cent over the next five years.

GETTY Emmanuel Macron poses for selfies with supporters in Paris

I will not yield in any way, not to slackers, nor to cynics, nor to the extremes Emmanuel Macron

He said: “I will not yield in any way, not to slackers, nor to cynics, nor to the extremes.” But his remarks were seized upon by political opponents. Jean-Luc Melenchon, leader of the hard-left France Unbowed party, issued an rallying call on Twitter mocking the president: “Half-wits, cynics, slackers, all in the street on September 12 and 23.” Philippe Martinez, general secretary of the far-left CGT union, said: “Who is the president talking about when he says he will yield nothing to the lazy? About these millions of people deprived of jobs, and about those who lack job security?”

Marine Le Pen, leader of Front National, who lost to Mr Macron in the presidential election this spring, accused him of “treating as lazy those who refuse to bow to his policy of perpetual precariousness”. Martine Aubry, the former Socialist employment minister who introduced the 35-hour working week in 2000, was also indignant. She said: “And now the French are lazy. What contempt, what ignorance.”

France's First Lady Brigitte Macron in pictures Tue, July 17, 2018 Brigitte Macron is a former high school teacher and the wife of the French politician Emmanuel Macron. See her most recent pictures. Play slideshow REUTERS•Getty 1 of 100 France's First Lady Brigitte Macron in pictures