At Least 40 Injured, 58 Arrested In Paris Labour Reforms Demonstration
MEP: Nearly 75,000 demonstrators had gathered in the French capital on Tuesday protesting over the government’s labour reform bill as the upper house of parliament debated changes to employment laws.
The demo have turned violent with at least 40 people, including 29 police officers, were injured as protesters against France’s highly unpopular proposed labor law clashed with police in Paris. Police made 58 arrests and deployed tear gas and water cannons against the demonstrators.
The company operating the Eiffel Tower said in a statement that the monument was closed Tuesday “due to the national strike.”
Union workers, rail workers and taxi drivers are also on strike.
The strike is the latest in months of industrial action that has seen air and rail transport severely disrupted, fuel shortages and rubbish piled up on the streets of Paris.
Pictures showed one man being led away by officers in riot gear with blood streaming from a wound above his eye, his white t-shirt splattered with blood.
The protestors have also torched a police car at the Republic Square in the hear t of Paris, with thick black smoke coming from the fire.
#Paris Une voiture de la RATP en feu sur la place de la République. De nombreux renforts policiers dépêchés pic.twitter.com/T9pxhAwQmY"
— Fred_Oriot (@FOriot) June 14, 2016
Police said the clashes in Paris involved “several hundred masked people”, who threw chunks of paving, set bins ablaze and smashed some shop windows. Police responded with tear gas and water cannon.
The CGT labor union said the Paris march would be the biggest show of strength for three months.
About 700 buses were ferrying protesters to the capital for an afternoon march through the city center, CGT leader Philippe Martinez said.
The mass protest coincided with the Euro 2016 football championship – a major challenge for French police, marred already by violence among fans.
