Demonstrations of March 23, live: the inter-union calls for a 10th day of mobilization on Tuesday; fires and tensions in Paris

This 9^e day of inter-union mobilization drew a map of France of tensions which does not include the Mediterranean rim and in particular Marseilles, whose record mobilization according to the unions (280,000) contrasts with the figure of the prefecture (16,000). AT Montpellierwhere the CGT counted 40,000 demonstrators, against 18,000 according to the prefecture, the procession took place “overall good”assured the prefect of Hérault, Hugues Moutouh.

Further north and west, this was much less true. AT Paris, violence, still ongoing, broke out at the head of the demonstration with its share of broken windows and destroyed street furniture. Contrary to a procession where the vast majority of demonstrators marched peacefully. At 6 p.m., 26 people had been arrested, mainly for carrying prohibited weapons and participating in a group to commit damage and violence, according to the police headquarters. At least one injured protester was taken care of by firefighters, noted a journalist from Agence France-Presse (AFP) and at least one police officer was injured after receiving a projectile in the head, according to a police source.

In the West of France, the violence and clashes between the police and demonstrators have clearly gone upmarket compared to previous mobilizations. AT Rouen, a demonstrator in her thirties, who works with disabled children, had a thumb torn off according to the deputy La France insoumise Alma Dufour, who questions the use of a de-encirclement grenade by the forces of the ‘order. Contacted by AFP, the Seine-Maritime prefecture was unable to confirm.

AT Nantes, demonstrators broke into the administrative court, ransacking the reception and breaking windows and doors. Several businesses were damaged.

AT Lorient (Morbihan), the city police station and the police were targeted by demonstrators, mostly young people with hidden faces. Windows of the building, close to the sub-prefecture, were broken by throwing projectiles and fires lit against the gate.

AT reindeer, the day after a day of clashes between fishermen and the police, tear gas canisters were fired in response to the throwing of projectiles and trash fires, plunging the inter-union procession, caught in a vice, into a thick cloud of acrid smoke. Mayor Nathalie Appéré was moved by “scenes of chaos”.

AT Bordeauxfor the first time since the beginning of the movement, tear gas was used by the police at the end of the procession, when groups left in so-called demonstrations “savages”.

AT Toulouse And Lillethe police used the water cannon.

“It’s more tense since the wild demonstrations, since Friday. Before that goes, the procession passed, it was calm. But there for a few days, there are garbage cans burning, tear gas, it’s more tense yes. There the demonstrators are on their toes, the police too, and there are more of them too ”testifies a trader to Strasbourg who preferred to remain anonymous.

Medium-sized towns have also experienced tensions between law enforcement and demonstrators, as in Bayonne. AT Tullethe police dispersed demonstrators, including high school students, using tear gas, as a dissociated part of the procession approached administrative buildings after the end of the official demonstration, according to testimonies collected by a correspondent of the AFP.