From our journalists on site in Nantes, Rennes, Lyon, Toulouse, Strasbourg, Lille and Bordeaux
The demonstrations are linked and the tension seems to rise inexorably. This Tuesday, the tenth national day of mobilization against the pension reform brought together 450,000 demonstrators in France, according to the CGT (the authorities’ figures were not immediately available). A generally declining participation, unlike the excesses which themselves intensified around the processions. The damage is significant in several cities. The point with our journalists on site.
In Nantes, fires and hostile tags
In Nantes, the first clashes between thugs and the police took place in the second part of the parade after projectiles were thrown in the Feydeau district. The police station in the city center was damaged, while a fire was started at the entrance to a nearby bank branch, forcing firefighters to pull out the water hoses under the eyes of the demonstrators. A few minutes later, a car was set on fire on a barricade made up of construction elements. Like last Thursday, the Nantes administrative court was also targeted, this time with trash cans burned in front of the porch. Street furniture was also broken, while anti-police and government tags were painted, including on the memorial to the abolition of slavery. The clashes continued for part of the afternoon.
In Rennes, smashed windows
For a good hour and a half, the procession paraded calmly in Rennes. The climate deteriorated considerably when part of the 25,000 demonstrators continued on their way during a wild rally. From the station to the streets of the old center via the Place de la République, a few hundred people faced the police. To put an end to the damage to shops, bus shelters and street furniture, the police used a large number of tear gas cartridges. The windows of brands such as Zara, Galeries Lafayette, the insurer MMA or an independent real estate agency were smashed by masked radical individuals, 350 in number, according to the authorities. The police made six arrests. Fourteen police officers were injured, according to the prefecture.
In Toulouse, “regular use of tear gas”
In Toulouse, the procession was quickly cut in two by a cordon of mobile gendarmes. Water cannons were used to disperse the libertarians who had taken the lead almost from the start of the demonstration. The procession progressed slowly to the rhythm of “a regular use of tear gas”, informed our journalist on the spot Béatrice Colin. At 5 p.m., she reported no slights or damage
In Lyon, damage and throwing of projectiles
At the start of the demonstration, the State services announced five arrests. Damage was committed on street furniture, shops and especially banks, according to our journalist on site Elise Martin.
As in Toulouse, these are acts generated by a thousand individuals, posted in the pre-cortege. Elise Martin noted regular use of “tear gas and some clashes with the police (throwing projectiles) as far as the Guillotère bridge”. Once over the bridge, the tension rose a notch – as during previous demonstrations there -. Many projectiles were thrown in the direction of the police (cobblestones, pebbles, glass bottles, etc.). The CRS responded by repeatedly using the water launcher and tear gas.
A group of protesters descended on the road under the bridge, blocking traffic. However, he was quickly dispersed with tear gas. According to our journalist, calm returned around 5 p.m., when the procession had reached Place Bellecour, nearly four hours after the launch of the demonstration.
In Lille, clashes an hour after the start of the procession
It was around 4 p.m., only an hour and a half after the departure of the procession, that the first clashes between the police and the demonstrators took place. Admittedly, there were many police officers, in front, behind and on the sides of the demonstration, but the provocation did indeed come from inside the procession. Firecrackers, eggs, stones suddenly rained down on a group of BAC men, who did not respond immediately. Tear gas only began to fill the air when demonstrators tried to erect a barrage of barriers on the course. Several police charges took place, one of them ending with the arrest of a man, rue Nationale.
In the aftermath, the windows of a bus shelter were shattered, smashed by a masked individual, armed with a street furniture pole. Forty minutes after the first clashes, everything suddenly calmed down for no apparent reason, but the slogans against the reform were replaced by anti-police invective. As the procession arrived at Place de la République, its terminus, the rain calmed the ardor. Admittedly, we still saw a few bottles fly, but we felt that the heart was gone. At 5.30 p.m., the prefecture had not yet given its mobilization figure. The demonstrators, themselves, still saw themselves at least 25,000.
In Bordeaux, cobblestones and burnt garbage cans
In Bordeaux, the end of the demonstration was scheduled for 3:30 p.m. but quickly several dozen demonstrators headed for the quays, at the height of the Alsace-Lorraine course, in order to face the police. The atmosphere was quickly tense, with the program throwing cobblestones, tear gas and trash cans burned rue de la Monnaie.
In Paris, the first clashes from 4 p.m.
The first clashes between the police and a group of several hundred people occurred on Tuesday around 5 p.m. in Paris at the head of the demonstration against the pension reform. Some members of this group looted a Leclerc business and lit a trash can fire. The police charged to “dislocate” “the block”, allow “the intervention of the firefighters” and “facilitate the progression of the procession”, indicated the police headquarters, which reported 22 arrests.
In the morning, around 11 a.m., a thousand demonstrators invaded the tracks of the Gare de Lyon on Tuesday before holding a general meeting in support of a railway worker who was blindsided during the demonstration on Thursday, noted an AFP journalist. Leaving from the Gare de Lyon, the demonstrators marched calmly for two kilometers, with banners and smoke bombs.