May 1 in France: Hundreds injured
Massive demonstrations took place yesterday in France in the capital, Paris, and in many cities, including Lille, Toulouse, Lyon, Nantes, Rennes and Marseille, against the reform that extended the retirement age by 2 years.
The Street-Medics Observatory, which provided first aid to the injured, said around 200 people were injured, 30 of them seriously, including civilians who did not take part in the demonstrations.
The Street-Medics Observatory said the number of injuries could rise and more than 2,000 people were affected by tear gas fired by police.
conflicting explanations
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin reported on French channel BFMTV that 540 people were detained during the demonstrations, 305 of whom were in Paris.
Darmanin announced that 406 police officers and gendarmes who intervened in the protests were injured.
The General Union of Workers (CGT), one of the country’s largest labor federations, said that approximately 2.3 million people, 550,000 of whom were in Paris, took part in demonstrations held in 310 different locations across France on May 1.
The Ministry of the Interior reported that the number of participants throughout the country was 782 thousand.
In the videos on social networks, it can be seen that the security forces intervened harshly with the people in the area, including journalists, after the flames of the Molotov cocktail, thrown by some protesters at the intervening police officers, spread to a policeman.
Many journalists are said to have been injured by the intervention of the police.
THE REFORM THAT MIXED THE COUNTRY
Massive demonstrations broke out in France on March 16, following the government’s decision to pass the bill, which includes raising the retirement age from 62 to 64, without a vote.
There was violence in many parts of the country between the police and protesters, who responded harshly to the demonstrations.
More than 1,000 people have been detained in protests across the country since March 16.
The Constitutional Council, to which the opposition and the government turned to to determine if the reform complied with the constitution, approved the article of the bill that raised the retirement age to 64 years, and rejected all 6 articles in whole or in part .
The bill was signed by French President Emmanuel Macron and published in the Official Gazette. (AA)