Protesters hit France with transport strikes, hobbling the Paris Metro, demonstrations, traffic slowdowns and blockades Thursday, pitting the power of the streets against President Emmanuel Macron's government and its proposals to cut funding for public services.

Labor unions that organized the strikes are pushing for the abandonment of proposed budget cuts, social welfare freezes and other belt-tightening measures that opponents say will further hit the pockets of low-paid and middle-class workers.

Opponents of Macron's business-friendly leadership complain that taxpayer-funded public services — free schools and public hospitals, subsidized health care, unemployment benefits and other safety nets that are cherished in France — are being eroded.

Left-wing parties and their supporters want the wealthy and businesses to pay more, rather than see spending cuts to plug holes in France's finances and to rein in its debts.

The planned day of upheaval — with strikes also impacting schools, industry and other sectors of the European Union’s second-largest economy — aimed to turn up the heat on new Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu.

Unions have decried budget proposals by Macron's minority governments, weakened by their lack of a dependable majority in parliament, as brutal and punitive for workers, retirees and others who are vulnerable.

As the strike continues, regional rail lines, as well as the Paris Metro and commuter trains, will be severely impacted.