Paris police burned as May Day protests turn ugly
Police were injured as May Day demonstrations in Paris turn ugly. Photo: EPA
One police officer was seriously burnt and two others injured in clashes at a May Day demonstration in Paris in which protesters threw Molotov cocktails and other missiles, French police say.
Television footage showed policemen trying to shake flames from their riot gear, and of tear gas enveloping the streets around Paris’ Bastille monument on Tuesday morning (AEST).
The clashes foreshadowed Sunday’s election between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen, the two winners of the first round of France’s presidential poll.
The candidates verbally attacked each other at May Day rallies.
Centrist Mr Macron evoked the memory of a May Day 22 years ago as he tried to paint his Eurosceptic, anti-immigration opponent as an extremist.
On that day, a young Moroccan man drowned after being pushed into the River Seine by supporters of Ms Le Pen’s National Front, led then by her father, Jean-Marie.
For her part, Ms Le Pen portrayed Mr Macron as a clone of the outgoing President, the highly unpopular Francois Hollande.
Some trade unionists and left-wing activists sought to make the day one of national solidarity against the National Front, mirroring protests in 2002 when Le Pen’s father, party founder Jean-Marie Le Pen, was a candidate.
Marine Le Pen tweeted her support for the injured policemen and said the incident was the type of unacceptable behaviour that she no longer wanted to see on French streets.
Elsewhere in Europe, a small group of Italian demonstrators clashed with police as they tried to break through a police barrier in the northern city of Turin.
The spokesman for Belgium’s Workers Party was stabbed in the leg at a rally in Liege.
In Turkey, police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to break up demonstrations and arrested hundreds.
– With AAP, ABC