Clashes erupted in several cities in France, and mainly in Paris, Nantes and Lyon, during the May 1 parades marked this year by the trade union against the pension reform.
"If the vast majority of demonstrators were pacifists of course, in Paris, Lyon and Nantes in particular, the police face extremely violent thugs who came with one objective: to kill cops and attack the property of others,” tweeted Gérald Darmanin.
In Paris, "a police officer was seriously injured, burned following a throw of a Molotov cocktail", continued the Minister of the Interior.
Hundreds of “black blocks”
According to a provisional report from Beauvau, nearly 200 people had been arrested at 6:00 p.m. in France, including 68 in Paris.
In the capital, the first tensions arose from the start of the demonstration around 2:15 p.m. from the Place de la République.
Since the pre-procession, made up of several hundred demonstrators dressed in black, projectiles have been thrown at the police, and several businesses have been stoned on the route.
Because of these degradations and in order "to prevent the radical elements from settling and preventing wandering", the police intervened to split the pre-procession from the trade union procession, commented the police headquarters (PP) from Paris.
The PP counted “several injured among the police, including ten already taken to hospital”.
The clashes intensified around 4:15 p.m. when the pre-procession arrived at Place de la Nation, the end of the parade.
Hundreds of "black blocks" notably used fireworks in direct fire at the police, who responded with a lot of tear gas and defensive grenades.
The clashes were still in progress at 6:30 p.m. Place de la Nation, where self-service bicycle terminals were set on fire.
In
Nantes
, the clashes, which lasted a good part of the afternoon, left five injured, including a gendarme and a demonstrator hit in the hand, according to the prefecture.
Protesters also burned two cars.
In
Rennes
, where a first trade union demonstration in a popular district of Rennes had taken place calmly at the end of the morning, a second rally organized in the afternoon in the city center quickly tense, the forces of the order responding with tear gas and water throwing projectiles.
Violence and significant damage also marked the inter-union demonstration in
Lyon
, incidents linked according to the prefecture to the presence of “2,000 individuals at risk, including 1,000 black blocks”.
At least four cars were set on fire on the route, and bus shelters, businesses, banks, insurance companies and real estate agencies were vandalized.
“Criminal behavior”
The police counted 15 minor injuries in their ranks and one more seriously injured.
Six demonstrators were also slightly affected.
On Twitter, the Rhône prefecture denounced the "criminal behavior" of "violent groups" and welcomed the use of two surveillance drones, which made it possible to "detect(r) a movement of radical elements which wanted to attack the town hall of the 7th arrondissement.
Challenged before four administrative courts by organizations for the defense of freedoms, the use of these drones by the police has been validated by administrative justice in Lyon, Bordeaux and Paris.
The administrative court of
Rouen
limited, for the demonstration of Le Havre, the perimeter and the hours of use of the aircraft.
Incidents were also recorded in the processions in
Bordeaux
(21 arrests) and
Toulouse
(16 arrests).
The authorities counted four minor injuries, including two demonstrators, in Bordeaux, and seven injuries, including four police and gendarmes in Toulouse.
In
Marseille,
some 200 people briefly occupied the Intercontinental hotel, a luxury hotel, causing damage along the way, after the traditional parade which took place peacefully.
