Although, according to the local Home Office, fewer people attended than in past performances – around 600,000 (unions estimate there were two million), the degree of violence on city streets French on Thursday clearly increased off the scale.
This stems in particular from the declaration of the French Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmenin, from which it appears that 154 law enforcement officers were injured during the clashes. And some of them were seriously injured. 111 demonstrators were arrested, half of them in Paris.
And, indeed, it was really hot in the capital. Clashes between the most determined demonstrators, and among them were also guys from radical groups of various persuasions, began from the start of the procession from the Esplanade des Invalides along Boulevard Montparnasse towards Place d’Italie , in the southeast of Paris.
A serious fight took place near a historical place – the famous restaurant “Rotonda” since the mid-20s of the last century. The same one where in the spring of 2017, Emmanuel Macron, with his acolytes, celebrated the victory in the first round of the presidential election.
The restaurant was under the protection of at least a hundred policemen and the demonstrators started throwing empty bottles and stones at them. They also managed to set fire to the red canopy of the outside porch. Admittedly, the restaurant was saved: the fire was quickly extinguished by the firefighters who arrived.
As the protest march progressed, several bank branches, a dozen bus stops and other municipal furniture were destroyed.
However, the most violent clashes already occur in the evening on the Place d’Italie, when the police commissioner orders the demonstrators to disperse. They refuse, erect a barricade and set it on fire using cans of gasoline.
This is where the real battle began. Cobblestones and props flew into law enforcement. The same did not make a ceremony and not only threw tear gas and stun grenades, but also dropped batons on the heads of the demonstrators.
The battle lasted at least an hour, and it was not until around midnight that the police, assisted by a special motorcycle police brigade (Brav-M), managed to disperse the demonstrators.
Something similar happened in other cities of the country, like Nantes, Lyon, Rennes.
The unions, organizers of the ongoing protests, have already announced that the next national day of action will take place on April 13.
