Paris, May 2 (UNI) Twelve police officers and gendarmes have been injured and taken to hospitals during the May Day demonstration in Paris, French broadcaster BFMTV has reported, citing the city’s police prefecture.
The officers have been hospitalized in a condition of modern severity after they had been hit by improvised explosive devices thrown at them by black bloc radicals, the report said on Wednesday.
A RIA Novosti correspondent reported earlier on Wednesday that riots broke out at the May Day demonstration in Paris, with the police using batons to push back the participants. Shortly after the demonstration started, black bloc radicals started smashing glass shop windows and bus stops, prompting the police to step in. The police began to push back the demonstrators using batons and tear gas several times after radicals started throwing firecrackers, fireworks and glass bottles at officers.
The Paris Police Prefecture estimated that a total of 18,000 people had participated in the demonstration in the French capital. Meanwhile, France’s General Confederation of Labour (CGT) said that as many as 50,000 had taken to the streets of Paris on May Day.
According to the CGT, a total of 200,000 people had taken to the streets on May Day across France, but France’s Interior Ministry estimated the number of participants at 121,000 people.
Some 270 May Day demonstrations took place across France.
