The prefect of Ille-et-Vilaine denounced on Sunday February 12 "
unacceptable violence
" which targeted the police in Rennes on Saturday at the end of the demonstration against the pension reform, which resulted in 23 arrests and three police officers injured.
At the end of the demonstration which, according to the prefecture, brought together 25,500 people, the police "
had to deal with a few hundred individuals, determined to deliberately damage street furniture and violently attack the police, which had to use means of defense to contain them
,” Emmanuel Berthier said in a statement.
Read also Pension reform: mobilization on the rise with 963,000 demonstrators in France
To the multiple projectiles sent, “
was added a Molotov cocktail which fell on a particular group.
The flammable mixture hit the shield of a CRS agent and spread over the latter, splashing two other colleagues in the process
”.
Fighting against the flames, the police were "
immediately rescued by the water launcher truck which sprayed them to extinguish the conflagration
", specified the prefect.
The first officer suffered 2nd degree burns and the other two suffered 1st degree burns, according to the statement.
“
It is to the immediate action of their colleagues and the water-thrower truck that we owe us to have avoided the worst
”, estimates the prefect.
The violence in the city center of the Breton capital took place from 4:50 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., according to the same source.
Clashes on the sidelines of the procession also broke out during the first three days of mobilization, but on a smaller scale than on Saturday.
“
23 people were arrested and will have to answer for these deliberate abuses, which have nothing to do with the right to demonstrate
,” also estimated Mr. Berthier.