PARIS: Protesters clashed with security forces across France on Monday as hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets for Labour Day to vent their anger against President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform.

At least 108 police were wounded and 291 people detained across the country, the interior minister said.

Such a high toll of police wounded was “extremely rare” for a May 1 protest, Gerald Darmanin told reporters.

Unions had been hoping for a vast turnout across France for the May 1 protests to further rattle Macron, who has been greeted by pot-bashing and jeers as he toured the country seeking to defend the reforms and relaunch his second mandate. Macron last month signed a law to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64, despite months of strikes against the bill.

In Paris, radical protesters threw projectiles at police and broke windows of businesses such as banks and estate agents, with security forces responding with tear gas and water cannon, correspondents said.

One policeman, hit by a Molotov cocktail, has suffered severe burns to the hand and face, Paris police said. The police said 46 people have been arrested in the capital alone so far.

Police had been given a last-minute go-ahead to use drones as a security measure after a Paris court rejected a petition from rights groups for them not to be used.

Police deployed tear gas in Toulouse in southern France as tensions erupted during demonstrations, while four cars were set on fire in the southeastern city of Lyon.

In the western city of Nantes, police also fired tear gas after protesters hurled projectiles, correspondents said. The windows of Uniqlo clothing store were smashed.

“Even if the vast majority of demonstrators were peaceful, in Paris, Lyon and Nantes in particular the police face extremely violent thugs who came with one objective: to kill cops and attack the property of others,” said Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin on Twitter. Protesters briefly occupied the luxury Intercontinental hotel in the southern city of Marseille, breaking flower pots and damaging furniture.

Some 782,000 people protested across France, including 112,000 in Paris alone, the interior ministry said. The CGT union said it counted 2.3 million protesters across France, including 550,000 in the capital. The turnout was massively higher than May Day last year but smaller than the biggest protests seen against the pension reform this year.

Macron and his government have tried to turn the page on the months of popular discontent, hoping to relaunch his second term after the reform was signed into law.

Over 100 police were injured and almost 300 people detained across the country.

“The page is not going to be turned as long as there is no withdrawal of this pension reform. The determination to win is intact,” said CGT chief Sophie Binet at the Paris protest.

Published in Dawn, May 2nd, 2023