Violent clashes took place in Nantes
Thursday, the demonstration against the pension reform gathered between 15,000 people, according to the police, and 50,000 people, according to the unions, in Nantes, where violent clashes pitted demonstrators against the police.
For more than three hours, clashes took place between demonstrators throwing projectiles and committing damage, and the police mobilized in large numbers, who fired tear gas, noted Agence France-Presse .
Protesters tagged on the walls “Street Glory” et “long live the scavengers”, lit several lights, and damaged billboards, a self-service bicycle terminal, a bus stop, the barrier of a paid car park or even a traffic light. According to the Loire-Atlantique prefecture, 23 people were arrested.
The demonstration was particularly tense at the end of the course, on the Quai de la Fosse on the banks of the Loire, where demonstrators dug up then threw cobblestones taken from the tram tracks, and the police responded with heavy gas fire tear gas.
A Rennes, “some 1,800 young people positioned at the head of the procession, broke away from it to head towards the hypercentre”, has also informed the prefecture of Ille-et-Vilaine. Their journey was “stacked with abuses” until around 5 p.m., with in particular the « pillage » a U Express store in the city center, “Building Barricades” or even the “deliberate deterioration of the pavement”. “To contain these disturbances to public order, the police had to use tear gas and water-throwing devices”said the prefecture.