France's Up All Night protesters have called for an international day of action by grassroots protest movements on Sunday 15 May. Activists hope there will be rallies in cities across Europe and the world on issues such as migrants, austerity and free trade deals like the US-Europe TTIP. But an opinion poll has shown flagging support for the sit-ins in France.

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Nuit Debout (Up All Night) supporters on Saturday called for activists in other countries to emulate their sit-ins in Paris's Place de la République and the centres of other French towns and cities next weekend.

The date of 15 May was chosen because it is the fifth anniversary of the birth of Spain's Indignados movement, which inspired Nuit Debout and led to the birth of the Podemos party, which soared to political prominence in this year's general election.

Visitors from several countries, including Greece and the US, addressed a rally of about 200 people on Place de la République on Saturday morning.

Support flagging

But the movement is losing support in France, if an opinion poll published Friday is to be believed.

It showed a 49 percent approval rating, down from 60 percent a month ago, and 54 percent saying further rallies should be banned because of violence during recent protests.

Left-wingers and police unions this week accused the government of encouraging the clashes between groups of youths and police in order to undermine opposition to its labour reform.

Communist Party national secretary Pierre Laurent claimed there was a "strategy of tension to try to discredit the movement".

Jean-Claude Delage of the Alliance union, which has called a day of action against "anti-cop hatred" on 18 May, accused the authorities of forcing the police to hold back from tackling rioters, while a leaflet by the CGT union's police branch accused "order givers" of allowing the rioters free rein to discredit protests.

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