After clashes occurred during protests against raising the retirement age, French police banned demonstrations on the Champs-Elysées and Place de la Concorde in the capital, Paris, on Saturday.
The police interpreted the ban on demonstrations as a “risk of disorder”, and the BFM TV channel said: “The ban area covers the Place de la Concorde and its surroundings and the Champs Elysees.” The police warned of penalties if they were violated.
Over the course of Thursday and Friday nights, spontaneous protests took place in the Place de la Concorde and the streets around Paris against the French government’s decision to pass the pension reform bill without a vote in the National Assembly (the lower house of parliament). Union activists and students of Parisian universities participated in the protests.
Groups of demonstrators threw stones at police and set scaffolding on fire in the Place de la Concorde, where renovation work is underway.
In response, the police and gendarmerie fired tear gas and water cannons in an attempt to break up the protests. About 300 people were arrested for participating in the riots over two days.
Over the past two days, the French capital, Paris, has been witnessing clashes and riots between the police and demonstrators during protests over pension reform, as the police used batons and gas to disperse the demonstrators.
A procession took off from the Place de la Republique in Paris against the backdrop of the seventh nationwide strike against raising the retirement age. Tens of thousands participated in it.
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