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More than 400 French police and gendarmes injured in May Day protests

Some 406 French police officers and gendarmes were injured and 291 people detained during violent May Day protests across France, the interior minister said on Tuesday.

Published: 1 May 2023 16:28 CEST
Updated: 2 May 2023 09:18 CEST
More than 400 French police and gendarmes injured in May Day protests
A French police officer of the Repression of Violent Action Motorised Brigade (Brav-M or Brigade de repression de l'action violente motorisee) stands in front of a fire during a demonstration on May Day in Paris. Photo by Alain JOCARD / AFP

Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin announced on Tuesday morning that 406 officers were injured during the protests across the country including 305 in Paris alone.

Such a high toll of injured police officers was “extremely rare” for a May 1st protest day, he said.

“The vast majority of protesters were peaceful, but in Paris, Lyon and Nantes notably, police officers came up against extremely violent rioters (casseurs) who had one objective: kill a police officer and to attack the property of others,” Darmanin said.

One policeman who was hit by a Molotov cocktail suffered burns to the face and hands but his life was not in danger.

The interior ministry also said there were 540 arrests made across the country on Monday including 305 in Paris.

Across France almost one million people took to the streets on May 1st, although most of the protesters were peaceful, violent erupted in cities including Paris, Toulouse, Lyon and Nantes.

In Paris 90 several police officers were hospitalised – including one who received serious burns from a Molotov cocktail and one who was knocked unconscious after being hit with a paving stone.

A minority of protesters smashed shop windows and street furniture and set fires – including setting a row of Vélib’ hire-bikes on fire, causing damage to the building behind.

Unions had been hoping for a vast turnout at the dozens of demos across France, with Emmanuel Macron’s deeply unpopular pension reform remaining the focus of the protests.

Macron last month signed a law to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64, despite months of strikes against the bill.

“The law has been passed but has not been accepted, there is a desire to show discontent peacefully to have a reaction in response that shows a certain level of decency,” said Celine Bertoni, 37, an academic in the central city of Clermont-Ferrand.

“I still hope that we are going to be told it will be withdrawn,” she added.

“Macron has the impression that as he was elected he has all the power! But I want him to cede his place to the people,” added Karine Catteau, 45, in the western city of Rennes.

The main march in Paris kicked off at 2pm along the traditional protest route of Place de la Republique to Place de la Nation, with a heavy downpour suddenly beginning at the very moment it started.

Police had been given a last-minute go-ahead to use drones as a security measure after a Paris court rejected a petition from rights groups for them not to be used.

Once the main march in Paris ended, police used water canon and rubber bullets at Place d’Italie.

Police used tear gas in Toulouse in southern France as tensions erupted during the demonstrations, with two officers injured after paving stones were thrown.

Tear gas was also used in Rennes, while a car was set on fire in the southeastern city of Lyon and in Marseille demonstrators invaded the Hotel Intercontinental in the city centre.

In the western city of Nantes, police also fired tear gas after protesters hurled projectiles, AFP correspondents said. The windows of Uniqlo clothing store were smashed.

Prime minister Elisabeth Borne slammed the violence as “unacceptable”, tweeting: “In many cities in France, this May Day was a moment for responsible mobilisation and commitment. The scenes of violence on the sidelines of the
demonstrations are all the more unacceptable.”

Macron and his government have tried to turn the page on the episode of popular discontent, one of the biggest challenges to his second term.

“The page is not going to be turned as long as there is no withdrawal of this pension reform. The determination to win is intact,” said the head of the CGT union Sophie Binet at the Paris protest.

“The mobilisation is still very, very strong,” added Laurent Berger, head of the CFDT union.

“It is a sign that resentment and anger are not diminishing.”

The Interior ministry said that 782,000 people took to the streets around France, with the CGT union claiming 2.3 million protesters. The interior ministry’s figures show the largest May Day turnout in France since 2002 – the year when the country was poised for a presidential election second round between Jacques Chirac and Front National leader Jean-Marie Le Pen.

Radical ecological activists from Extinction Rebellion earlier sprayed orange paint on the facade of the glitzy Fondation Louis Vuitton museum in Paris, which is backed by the LVMH luxury goods giant.

In a separate action by a different environmental protest group, activists sprayed orange paint around the Place Vendome in central Paris, known for its jewellery shops, targeting the facade of the ministry of justice.

Member comments

  1. A journalist’s personal opinion should be invisible in true news journalism. The quotes in this piece are all opinions of the union spokespersons and demonstrators. Obviously, the article reflects the sympathies and opinion of the writer. I’m surprised she didn’t seek a statement from whomever smashed the windows of the Uniqlo store or set the car on fire.

  2. If those were “peaceful protests” I dread to think what the unions would describe as violent.

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Paris garbage collectors strike as city readies for Olympics

Paris garbage collectors went on strike on Tuesday, two-and-a-half months before the French capital is due to host the Summer Olympic Games.

Published: 15 May 2024 09:44 CEST
Paris garbage collectors strike as city readies for Olympics

Paris rubbish collectors had warned of possible strikes over the summer, raising the spectre of piles of trash roasting in summer heat on the streets as hordes of athletes and tourists descend on the City of Light.

ANALYSIS: How likely is strike chaos during the Paris Olympics?

Unions and City Hall differed on how many of the collectors had walked off the job on Tuesday.

Paris city hall said that 16 percent of staff, or one in six, were striking.

“Collection services were little affected today,” a City Hall official told AFP, without providing further details.

But the CGT union branch that represents garbage collectors, hailed a “strong” mobilisation effort, saying that 70-90 percent of staff, depending on the arrondissement, had walked off the job.

CGT said that some 400 striking workers had “occupied” the building housing city hall’s human resources department on Tuesday morning.

City Hall put the number at 100 and said they had left by 12 noon.

CGT had warned that walkouts would occur on several days in May and then continue from July 1st to September 8th.

Summer Olympics will run in Paris from July 26th until August 11th, and the Paralympic Games from August 28th to September 8th.

Refuse workers in the Paris region are demanding an extra €400 per month and a one-off €1,900 bonus for those working during the Olympics, when French workers traditionally take time off for the summer holidays.

The mayor’s office had previously told AFP that it would extend bonuses of between €600 and €1,900 that it had already announced for workers contributing to the Olympics effort to refuse collectors.

The mayor of Paris’s 17th arrondissement, Geoffroy Boulard, said the strike was “irresponsible”.

“To take hostage not only Parisians but also tourists and visitors is also an attack on France’s world image,” he said.

In March last year, a three-week strike by rubbish collectors against unpopular pensions reform saw more than 10,000 tonnes of waste piled in Paris streets at its height.

Images of the heaps of trash, some mounting several metres high, were seen around the world.

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