As in many cities in France, opponents of pension reform have again made their anger heard in Strasbourg. Further damage was committed on the sidelines of a demonstration on Monday evening and five people were arrested, three days after similar events.
About 2,000 people according to the prefecture demonstrated at the height of the procession. They first gathered at Place Kléber, in the heart of the Alsatian capital. Demonstrators loudly whistled and booed as a no-confidence motion against the government was voted down. They lit smoke bombs and chanted “We too will go through in force” before starting to move.
A stoned and tagged bank
Several demonstrators then committed damage to the quays along the Ill. The facade of a bank was stoned and tagged, most of the garbage cans on this quay were set on fire and advertising signs were smashed. The demonstrators, blocked by the police at the end of this pedestrian quay on which they were marching, changed their route and left in another direction.
For many very young and masked, they then tore down barriers and sheets on a construction site to make it a barricade in the middle of the street and set fire to other garbage cans. Several bus shelters were smashed. The police, who used tear gas on several occasions, made five arrests, the prefecture said around 10:30 p.m., while the demonstrators had dispersed.
Damage had already been committed Friday evening in Strasbourg. Demonstrators had smashed the windows of Galeries Lafayette as well as a bus shelter, furniture and flower boxes had been overturned and garbage cans set on fire.