On May 1, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of France to protest President Emmanuel Macron's pension reform on Labour Day. According to Gerald Darmanin, France's interior minister, 291 people have been detained and at least 108 police officers have been injured as a result of the violence that erupted during the May Day marches.
According to preliminary estimates from the French interior ministry, at least 782,000 people marched on May Day across France on Monday, with approximately 112,000 of them in Paris. The CGT union estimated 2.3 million protestors nationwide, including 550,000 in the nation's capital.
Media reports state that after clashes between protestors and security personnel broke out in many cities, more than 100 police officers were hurt and close to 300 individuals were detained throughout France.
Security forces responded by using tear gas and water cannons as protesters were seen throwing objects at police and shattering windows of establishments like banks and estate agents in the French capital. Police were seen pushing back on the gathering of witnesses as protestors in Paris also set a bicycle docking station on fire. Flames shot from the roadway, and black smoke billowed into the sky.
The interior ministry reported that when protesters attacked police with Molotov cocktails and pyrotechnics, one officer suffered serious injuries after being struck by a burning projectile. The fire department had to intervene after police attempted to disperse the protest at its conclusion. In Toulouse, southern France, tensions rose during protests, and security personnel used tear gas to disperse the crowd. In the meantime, Lyon, a city in the southeast, saw the burning of four cars. In addition, demonstrators briefly occupied the opulent InterContinental hotel in the southern city of Marseille, allegedly breaking a few flowerpots and causing furniture damage.
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