At least 200 civilians and activists, as well as 406 police officers, were reported injured in nationwide demonstrations against controversial pension reform on May 1, Labor and Solidarity Day in France.
Mass demonstrations were held in France yesterday in the capital city of Paris and in many cities, including Lille, Toulouse Lyon, Nantes, Rennes and Marseille, against the reform that extended the retirement age by 2 years.
Street-Medics Observatory, which provides first aid to the injured, stated that about 200 people were injured, 30 of them seriously, including civilians who did not participate in the demonstrations.
The Street-Medics Observatory said the number of injured could rise and more than 2,000 people were affected by the tear gas fired by the police.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin reported on the French channel BFMTV that 540 people were detained during the demonstrations, 305 of which were in Paris.
Darmanin announced that 406 policemen and gendarmes who intervened in the protests were injured.
The General Workers’ Union (CGT), one of the country’s largest labor federations, noted that approximately 2.3 million people, 550 thousand of whom were in Paris, participated in the demonstrations held at 310 different points across France on May 1.
The Ministry of Interior reported that the number of participants across the country was 782 thousand.
In the videos on social media, it is seen that the security forces intervened harshly on the people in the area, including the journalists, after the flames of the Molotov cocktail, which some protesters threw at the intervening police, spread to a police officer.
It is reported that many journalists were injured by the intervention of the police.
THE REFORM THAT MIXED THE COUNTRY
Mass 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 voting.
Violence took place in many parts of the country between the police and the demonstrators, 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 applied to determine whether the reform was constitutional or not, approved the article of the draft bill that increased the retirement age to 64, and rejected the 6 articles in whole or in part.