New rallies were organized on Tuesday evening against the pension reform in several large French cities, the scene for some of them, including Paris, of tensions between the police and demonstrators, according to AFP journalists.
In the capital, 46 arrests took place, according to a provisional report established shortly before midnight, from a police source.
A rally, originally organized by unions in the early evening on the Place de la République, turned into a tense face to face between a few hundred demonstrators and the police, throwing projectiles against tear gas canisters.
At the height of the inter-union rally which ended around 8:30 p.m., around 3,500 people were present at Place de la République, according to the Paris police headquarters. Then, according to a police source, “the organizers left the scene but a group of individuals threw projectiles in the direction of the firefighters and then tried to set off in a wild procession before being prevented by the forces of the order”.
They carried out several charges by drowning the Place de la République under a cloud of tear gas.
The metro station of the same name was also invaded by tear gas, even on the platforms and in trains circulating underground, AFP journalists noted.
The station was temporarily closed around 9:00 p.m., due to this “presence of tear gas” inside, confirmed the RATP.
Shortly before midnight, demonstrators played cat and mouse with the police on the Place de la Bastille and its surroundings. Firefighters had to put out many trash fires.
Other rallies, demonstrations and processions were organized in several French cities.
In Lille, the Series Mania festival was briefly disrupted when a few dozen demonstrators tried to burst onto the red carpet, notably shouting anti-Macron slogans, before being quickly repelled by a police charge, AFP noted. .
Some 900 people had first participated in a calm demonstration in Lille against the pension reform, according to the Nord prefecture, then scuffles opposed the police to some 250 people, “especially young people”, according to a police source.
In Grenoble, nearly 5,000 people took part from 7 p.m. in a torchlight parade, according to the Isère prefecture. Around 9:30 p.m., the authorities had not noted “notable incidents”.
In Nantes, where 10,000 demonstrators according to the unions, 4,100 according to the police, took part in a procession with torches, the first tear gas was fired shortly after the start of the demonstration by the police, who suffered many mortar fireworks, AFP noted.
On the sidelines of the procession, damage was committed, businesses ransacked, with tags like “49.3 it will not pass”, or “Macron only understands the riot”.
In Rennes, 4,000 people – including some with torches – according to the organizers, 1,200 according to the prefecture, strolled calmly in the city center. A few hundred however continued on their way for a “wild demonstration”, separating into small groups to thwart the police device.
Around 11:00 p.m., the prefecture of Ille-et-Vilaine reported 11 interventions by firefighters on fire starts, including a vehicle set on fire by a garbage bin fire, and “four arrests for fire and rebellion”.
In Le Mans, around 300 protesters gathered around a “sculpture of fire” representing a “49.3”, in reference to the article of the Constitution used by the government to pass the pension reform without the vote of the National Assembly, according to an AFP photographer.
03/22/2023 14:14:58 – Paris (AFP) – © 2023 AFP