IN PICTURES: 54 arrested after trouble erupts at Paris May Day demo

Fifty four people have been arrested after trouble erupted at the traditional May 1st march in Paris, with street furniture set on fire and shop windows smashed. A firefighter was attacked as he tried to extinguish the flames.

Published: 2 May 2022 08:46 CEST

IN PICTURES: 54 arrested after trouble erupts at Paris May Day demo

A fire burns in the road during clashes between protesters and police in Paris on May 1st. Photo by AFP

The main march – organised by trades unions and calling for improvements in standard of living as well as a halt to Emmanuel Macron’s plans to raise the pension age – passed off without incident, but a small group of black-clad protesters clashed with police shortly after the march moved off from Place de la République on Sunday afternoon.

Police clash with protesters on the Boulevard Voltaire. Photo by AFP

Later in the afternoon a McDonald’s was vandalised and windows smashed at banks, real estate agencies, insurance firms and a shop selling organic produce.

A fire burns in the road during clashes between protesters and police in Paris. Photo by AFP

The group sprayed anti-capitalist graffiti and set fire to street furniture and wheelie bins – with one female demonstrator attacking a firefighter as he and his colleagues attempted to extinguish the flames.

Un pompier agressé en pleine intervention en marge du défilé du 1er mai pic.twitter.com/uohY5qZZhp

— BFMTV (@BFMTV) May 2, 2022

There were further clashes between the group and the police at Place de la Nation, with police firing tear gas. The main demonstration was blocked from entering Nation by police as the violence continued.

A police officer clashes with a protesters in tear gas smoke. Photo by AFP

According to an Interior Ministry update at 7pm on Sunday, 54 people had been arrested and eight police officers injured during the clashes.

Elsewhere in France, dozens of May 1st demonstrations took place, but largely passed off without incident.

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In a message sent to staff on Thursday evening, its management said the buildings in central Paris “will remain closed tomorrow, Friday May 3rd. We ask you to continue to work from home”.

A committee of pro-Palestinian students earlier on Thursday announced a “peaceful sit-in” at Sciences Po and said six students were starting a hunger strike “in solidarity with Palestinian victims” in war-torn Gaza.

Sciences Po is widely considered France’s top political science school and counts President Emmanuel Macron among its alumni.

Echoing tense demonstrations rocking many top US universities, students at Sciences Po have staged a series of protests, with some furious over the Israel-Hamas war and ensuing humanitarian crisis in the besieged Palestinian territory of Gaza.

France is home to the world’s largest Jewish population after Israel and the United States, as well as Europe’s biggest Muslim community.

The Paris regional authority’s right-wing head Valerie Pécresse temporarily suspended funding to Sciences Po earlier this week over the protests, condemning what she called “a minority of radicalised people calling for anti-Semitic hatred”.

The war started with Hamas’s unprecedented October 7th attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel estimates that 129 captives seized by militants during their attack remain in Gaza. The military says 34 of them are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive against Hamas has killed at least 34,596 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

A member of the student committee who identified himself only as Hicham said the hunger strikes would continue until the university’s board voted on holding an investigation into its partnerships with Israeli universities.

Sciences Po’s acting administrator Jean Basseres said he had refused that call during a debate with students, held at the university in a bid to calm days of protests.

Higher Education Minister Sylvie Retailleau earlier on Thursday called on university heads to “keep order”, including by calling in the police if needed.