Rioting and injuries reported at May 1 French pension reform protests

Rioting broke out in France at the large-scale protests on May 1, International Workers' Day, against President Emmanuel Macron's pension reform, which has now been passed.

There were arrests and injuries in Paris and other big cities as protesters clashed with police, the radio network Franceinfo reported.

Demonstrators reportedly set fire to cars and rubbish bins and smashed windows of banks and shops.

The trade unions had called for more than 300 rallies.

In the evening, the authorities reported 782,000 participants nationwide, 112,000 of them in Paris alone. According to the trade unions, there were 2.3 million people.

Nationwide, 291 demonstrators were arrested and 108 police officers were injured, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said in the evening but added the numbers were not yet conclusive.

The vast majority of demonstrators remained peaceful, of course, said Darmanin. But in Paris, Lyon and Nantes in particular, the forces of order had been confronted with extremely violent rioters who had come with one aim: to kill police officers and attack the property of others, he said.

In Paris, he said, a policeman had been seriously injured, suffering burns from a Molotov cocktail. "This violence must be condemned without reservation."

Video footage from various cities showed massive damage to property. In the capital and other major cities, police used drones for the first time to monitor the situation.

Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne condemned the violence, saying it was unacceptable. She expressed support for the forces of law and order.

Macron's centrist government sees the pension reform, which pushes the retirement age up to 64 from 62, as a done deal. However, unions and some opposition members have not given up the fight, and want to prevent the bill's implementation on September 1.

Strikes were already ongoing over the long weekend and even disrupted air traffic in France.

The last nationwide protests against the pension reform took place a fortnight ago, after Macron officially enacted the bill. The fact that the government pushed through the reform without a vote in parliament using a special paragraph continues to cause resentment.

The question now is whether the demonstrations on May 1 will be the last big rallies against the pension reform. The number of participants has been on the decline and there are also signs of a break-up of the unions' common front.