The monumental gate of the town hall of Bordeaux is in flames this Thursday evening. This is surely the most spectacular image of this day of protest. In Bordeaux, the fire occurred after the start of a “wild demonstration” following the original union mobilization. The fire was set at the gate of the town hall, which was blazing at the start of the evening.
In Brittany, from Rennes to Nantes via Lorient, the demonstrations were also the occasion for violent clashes, with clashes between “thugs” and the police, but also attacks against institutions, in particular the sub-prefecture. victim of a fire and the Lorient police station attacked. In the city of five ports, unprecedented disturbances marked the demonstration: the city police station and the police were targeted by demonstrators, mostly young people with concealed faces.
AT Lorient, “some thugs used paving stones as projectiles, broke several windows of the police station and tried to fracture what could be broken. A few police officers were injured, a priori rather slightly, ”said public prosecutor Stéphane Kellenberger in a press release. The prosecutor reported “10 arrests”, “mainly young men”. They were placed in police custody for “willful violence without ITT on officials of the national police, in a meeting and with weapons, aggravated damage”.
“Unacceptable attacks and degradations against the sub-prefecture and the Lorient police station. Thoughts to injured officials. These acts cannot go unpunished”, reacted on Twitter the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin.
AT Rennes, the demonstration brought together 35,000 participants according to the Force Ouvrière union, 22,200 according to the prefecture. The first clashes broke out between masked and hooded young people, posted upstream of the procession, and the imposing police force. Tear gas grenades responded to projectile throwing and trash fires, plunging the inter-union procession, caught in a vice, into a thick cloud of acrid smoke, according to an AFP journalist.
According to the prefecture, a 41-year-old demonstrator suffered knee trauma, three members of the police were “impacted by projectile jets” and four people arrested. Many shop windows and bus shelters were vandalized.
Scenes of chaos in Rennes
The socialist mayor of Rennes Nathalie Appéré spoke in a press release of “scenes of chaos (which) follow one another”. “Physical attacks are increasing, the injured are more numerous every day,” added the elected official, calling on Emmanuel Macron to “withdraw (r) this pension reform”.
AT Nantes, demonstrators attacked several brands, including Fnac and Uniqlo, smashing their windows, looting a telephone shop, noted an AFP journalist. The police, who seemed overwhelmed by the crowds and radicalized young people, announced 25,000 demonstrators, the unions claiming the figure of 80,000, the largest mobilization since the start of the movement.
The demonstration had started shortly after 10:30 a.m. but tensed two hours later: with the throwing of projectiles, the police responding with tear gas fire, almost continuously. Demonstrators broke into the administrative court, ransacking the reception and breaking windows and doors, AFP noted. Firefighters quickly extinguished a fire in a courtroom. Windows of the building were broken by throwing projectiles and fires lit against the gate. The gendarmes intervened to disperse the crowd, noted an AFP correspondent.
AT Saint Nazaire, for the first time since January 17, clashes punctuated the demonstration, from the start of the procession, and the windows of the town hall were degraded, according to an AFP correspondent. The unions counted 13,000 participants and the police 9,000.
Elisabeth Borne judged Thursday evening “unacceptable” the “violence and degradation” in the demonstrations against the pension reform, which experienced renewed tension in several cities. “Demonstrating and making disagreements heard is a right. The violence and degradation we have witnessed today are unacceptable”, wrote on Twitter the Prime Minister, who expresses “all (her) gratitude to the police and rescue forces mobilized”.