150 officers have been injured in clashes between protesters and police during three months of protests against French President Emmanuel Macron’s highly controversial pension reforms.
According to news agency AFP, a large number of arrests were made after protesters clashed with French security forces on Thursday in the worst violence to date.
According to authorities, protesters took to the streets in several cities and set fire to a historic center in Paris.
Police have detained protesters involved in violence in many cities.
The French president’s reforms came as a major challenge to his government as retired civil servants across the country staged protests.
This is the biggest wave of public protests against Emmanuel Macron since he was elected for a second term as president of France.
Britain’s King Charles III arrives in France next week, and French trade unions have announced strikes and protests on Tuesday.
This is the first foreign visit of King Chalis III. He will also visit the southwestern city of Bordeaux, where protesters set fire to the porch of city hall on Thursday.
Scores of angry protesters took to the streets on Thursday after the French president refused to roll back the reforms in a TV interview on Wednesday.
Clashes broke out between police and protesters in the streets and alleys of Paris, where officers threw tear gas shells and baton-charged protesters.
In some places, the protesters set fire to garbage in the streets, after which firefighters had to come to put it out.
Interior Minister Gerald Durman said that 150 security forces personnel were injured across the country while 172 people were detained, of which 72 were arrested in the city of Paris.
He said that 140 places were set on fire in the city of Paris. The violence was carried out by ‘thugs’ who came to Paris and attacked ‘policemen and government buildings’.
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