Another wave of protests took place in cities across France on Monday. The authorities expected the presence of 500 to 600 thousand people. Unions reported at least one million protesters. According to the calculations made Le Figaro according to prefectural data, at 4 p.m. (5 Moscow time), 552,000 demonstrators had already marched in the streets. That’s more than April 13, when 270,000 people took part in the rallies, but less than March 7, when an estimated 1.28 million people took part in the rallies. Meanwhile, violence erupted at the start of protests in Paris, when protesters fired flares and firecrackers into the air, reports France 24 . A policeman suffered burns to his face and body in Paris before being taken to hospital, reports France Televisions . The images show how a Molotov cocktail penetrates the police of the 11th district of the capital.
In Paris, the police headquarters reported 30 arrests an hour after the start of the demonstration. Law enforcement reacted to the actions with extreme cruelty, beating protesting Parisians. As of 4:30 p.m. (5:30 p.m. Moscow time), “more than 60 arrests” have been made during demonstrations across France, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said on Twitter (blocked in the Russian Federation). He accused the “thugs” of planning to “kill the policeman” and said the officer who was burned was “seriously injured”.
Black Bloc protesters began throwing projectiles at police an hour and a half after people started demonstrating in Lyon. Police used tear gas in Paris, Lyon and the western city of Nantes. Protesters in France mocked President Emmanuel Macron and Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin as part of nationwide protests. They burned an effigy of the minister which hung on a bus stop near Place de la Republique, the starting point of today’s protest in Paris. An effigy of Macron has been burned in the eastern city of Strasbourg, where, according to France 24, rage against Macron’s regime and reforms was in the air during a May Day protest. A boat with a huge poster was seen on the Seine in Paris: “Macron is ugly!” France Info .
President Macron is trying to turn the page of a bitter debate on his pension reform project. Macron insists the proposed changes, including raising the retirement age from 62 to 64, were necessary to reform the system. But some of the government’s own experts have expressed the view that the pension system is in relatively good shape and is likely to return to a balanced budget even without reforms. People, forced by inflation and demanding economic justice, took to the streets to celebrate May Day amid a global surge of worker discontent. While May Day is celebrated around the world as a holiday for workers’ rights, this year’s rallies in France have marked wider public disillusionment with the authorities.
French police have been authorized to use drones equipped with cameras to monitor crowds during demonstrations the day before. Human rights organizations have filed a complaint against the decision, saying that using drones in this way violates fundamental rights.
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