Alwaght- French police have violently suppressed protesters in the country's Paris as workers remain adamant on strikes over government labor reforms.
The clashes erupted as the international spotlight was turned on France as the host of the Euro 2016 football championships, which have also been marred by violence between fans.
Strikes closed the Eiffel Tower and disrupted transport links as tens of thousands of fans pour into the country for Europe’s showcase football event.
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.
Paris police chief, Michel Cadot, said today “maybe more than 50,000 demonstrators” were in the capital alone. Two further protest days are set for later this month.
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.
With France on high alert due to the threat of terrorism during Euro 2016, overstretched security authorities feared the demonstrations could turn violent and banned 130 known troublemakers from taking part.
The terrorism threat was thrust back into the spotlight after a man claiming allegiance to ISIS terrorists killed a policeman and his partner at their home in a northwestern Paris suburb late yesterday.
Early May, President Francois Hollande and Prime Minister Manuel Valls decided to use their constitutional powers to impose the labor law reforms by decree.
Hardline trade unions and a bloc of traditionalist Socialist politicians – including several former ministers and the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo – oppose the changes. So do 70 per cent of French people.
Known as the El Khomri law, after the labor minister, the legislation has given birth to an entire protest movement, Nuit Debout, which has been likened to Occupy in the US, but enjoys broader support in France.
