French riot police arrested 27 people after running battles with dozens of hooded and masked youths in downtown Paris's Place de la Republique square overnight, after a day of separate protest marches over labour reform that were also marked by violence.
PARIS: French riot police arrested 27 people after running
battles with dozens of hooded and masked youths in downtown Paris's
Place de la Republique square overnight, after a day of separate protest
marches over labour reform that were also marked by violence.
In the early hours of the morning police moved in to clear
out a group of around 150 youths who refused to quit the vast open
square which has been occupied daily for the past month by mostly
peaceful sit-in protesters.
The evacuation followed running battles between police and
youths who set cars on fire and hurled lumps of concrete and
cobblestones ripped up from the streets, the Interior Ministry said in a
statement.
It said 24 of the 27 arrested in the standoff were placed in custody."These are largely people coming looking for a fight," Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said.
The late-night clashes followed a day of street marches in
which dozens more were arrested. The violence took place on the fringes
of rallies involving tens of thousands of people protesting over a law
to make hiring and firing easier in a country where labour protection is
sacrosanct and unemployment above 10 percent.
In all, police reported 124 arrests during Thursday's day of protests
and demonstrations, in which 24 police were injured, one in serious
condition after a skull-cracking blow from a paving block.Paris police prefect Michel Cadot says highly organised and methodical groups are behind the violence which has developed despite the state of emergency rules imposed since the deadly Islamist attacks of last November.
The French government has condemned the violence, but with
just a year to elections, seems keen so far to waive the blanket curfew
option it has under the state of emergency system.
(Reporting By Brian Love; Editing by Andrew Callus)
- Reuters
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