Macron courts Marseille voters; Climate activists in Paris

French President Emmanuel Macron is holding a major campaign rally in Marseille to seek backing from voters who supported a left-wing candidate in the first round of the presidential election

PARIS -- French President Emmanuel Macron held a major campaign rally Saturday in Marseille, touting his environmental and climate actions and plans in a bid to draw in young voters who supported more politically extreme candidates in the first round of France's presidential election.

Citizens and especially millennials in Marseille, a multicultural southern French city on the Mediterranean, favored hard-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon over the centrist Macron in the April 10 first round of voting. Marseille's young voters, who leaned mainly to the far right and the far left last Sunday, are particularly engaged with climate issues — a point which Macron hoped to capitalize on in a rousing speech on the edge of the glistening sea.

Macron is facing off against far-right challenger Marine Le Pen in France's April 24 presidential runoff after 10 other candidates, including Melenchon, were eliminated in the first round.

Macron has mixed green credentials, something he hopes to improve on. Although he was associated with the slogan “Make The Planet Great Again,” in his first five-tear term he capitulated to angry yellow vest protesters by scrapping a tax hike on fuel prices.