PARIS: Several dozen youth protesters clashed with police in the early hours of Friday in a central Paris square after refusing orders to disperse, police said.
Police detained 24 people overnight after scenes of violence that saw protesters hurling chunks of concrete at riot police and torching vehicles.
Around 100 "especially violent demonstrators" forced their way through a police barricade at the Place de la Republique, police said.
The square has been the venue for the past month of nightly gatherings dubbed "Up All Night", but on Thursday protesters, who numbered around 1,000, were allowed to stay only until midnight.
The new violence followed clashes Thursday during protests against France's hotly contested labour laws that left 24 policemen injured, three seriously.
At least 170,000 workers and students had taken to the streets nationwide to press demands for the withdrawal of the proposed labour law.
Opponents of the labour reform, billed as an effort to reduce chronic unemployment, which stands at 10 percent, say it will threaten cherished rights and deepen job insecurity for young people.
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve visited an officer at a Paris hospital late Thursday, saying he remained in serious condition.
Police said he was a plainclothes officer who was hit in the head by a projectile.
"Those who try to exploit this period for political ends by suggesting that we ban everything are both ignorant of the law and ignorant of the state of emergency," the interior minister said.
Comments
Comments are closed.