Nearly 300 protesters were arrested Tuesday after May Day riots in central Paris, where hooded youths torched a McDonald's restaurant and several vehicles during a march against President Emmanuel Macron's public sector reforms.

[PARIS] Nearly 300 protesters were arrested Tuesday after May Day riots in central Paris, where hooded youths torched a McDonald's restaurant and several vehicles during a march against President Emmanuel Macron's public sector reforms.

Shouting "Rise up, Paris" and "Everyone hates the police", around 1,200 people in black jackets and face masks joined the traditional May 1 union-led demonstration for workers' rights, according to a count by Paris police.

After trying to hold up the march a group of protesters ran amok along the route, destroying a McDonald's restaurant near Austerlitz station, east of the city centre, and setting it ablaze.

They also torched vehicles at a car dealership, along with a mechanical digger and a scooter, leaving a trail of destruction and plumes of dark smoke billowing into the air.

The worst unrest in months in Paris comes at a time of heightened tensions over Mr Macron's reform of the public sector and follows a showdown between police and anti-capitalist squatters at a sprawling commune in western France.

The police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse the demonstrators.

On Tuesday night 102 people remained in custody out of 276 who were arrested, police said, adding: "31 businesses were damaged, of which two were burned, 6 vehicles were burned and 10 others damaged."

Mr Macron condemned the violence, posting on Twitter during his trip to Australia: "Everything will be done so that the perpetrators are identified and held responsible for their actions." He added the demonstrations would be treated with "absolute firmness".

The police had warned of the risk of extremist groups using May Day to set up a rematch of the clashes seen during demonstrations last year over Macron's labour reforms and at an anti-capitalist camp in western France that was demolished by police earlier this month.

"Macron makes us mad," read a banner held by one masked demonstrator.

"We're tired of this capitalist system that destroys everything and of brutal police repression of all those who oppose it," a 19-year-old student who was part of the group told AFP.

The scenes of looting and destruction overshadowed the May Day march, which drew between 20,000 and 55,000 peaceful protesters according to police and union estimates.

Countrywide, around 143,000 people took part in labour marches, according to government estimates, up slightly on 2017.

Trade unions and students' unions have been trying to rally the French against Mr Macron's shake-up of indebted state rail operator SNCF and access to public universities, which they see as part of a rollback of France's cherished public service.

Polls show the French supporting those reforms but being more critical of Macron's fiscal policy, seen as favouring the wealthy over the working and middle classes.

"Macron is the president of the rich," Genevieve Durand, a retired public servant who took part in a march in the central city of Clermont-Ferrand, told AFP, echoing a label that has clung to the centrist leader.

The energetic 40-year-old, who vowed during campaigning to make France more competitive, has insisted he will not budge from his course.

"I'm doing what I said I would," he said during a recent television interview to mark the first anniversary of his election on May 7. </s> PARIS: Depicting the object of their ire as Napoleon, Dracula, Jupiter, a banker-king and Margaret Thatcher, tens of thousands marched through central Paris on Saturday to protest against President Emmanuel Macron's sweeping reforms, a year after he took office.

Some 2,000 security forces including riot police were deployed just in case a generally good-natured rally went the same way as May Day protests hijacked by anarchists.

Marchers gathered from midday in warm early summer sunshine in the central Opera square for a protest dubbed a "Party for Macron", a tongue-in-cheek "celebration" of the 40-year-old centrist and former Rothschild banker's first anniversary in power.

Paris police put the number of marchers at 40,000 but organisers said it was 160,000.

Smaller rallies took place in the southern cities of Toulouse and Bordeaux while the Paris variant kicked off with a mass picnic which drew numerous families.

Organisers had urged participants to attend in a party mood -- but the high security owed much to hundreds of black-clad youths having torched cars and a McDonald's restaurant during traditional May 1 demonstrations in the capital, prompting fears that more "black bloc" protesters could hijack Saturday's event.

One protester held aloft a placard with the words Mac-ron is disgusting," a play on words to show his feelings about the president and the fast food chain.

Organisers insisted the march from Opera to the Bastille area, east of the city centre, would be "joyful and festive."

Government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux had expressed fears Friday that the demonstration could turn violent, hence the high security.

He noted that the protest's name, the "Fete a Macron", can have a double meaning in French -- either celebrating someone, or trying to do them harm.

"We are worried that there could be violence, and so we're reinforcing security measures," Griveaux said, adding the police role was to ensure peaceful demonstrations could go ahead.

Some supporters of the left-wing populist La France Insoumise party (LFI) brandished anti-Macron banners with slogans including "down with the president of the rich," "no to a social coup d'etat" and "for a Sixth Republic."

The protest is the latest in a series of large street demonstrations against Macron, whose overhauls of everything from the education system to the state rail operator have been causing friction with various groups.

The demonstration was organised by firebrand LFI lawmaker Francois Ruffin and other ex-members of the Nuit Debout (Up All Night) leftist movement that staged nocturnal rallies across France in 2016.

Ruffin told AFP this week that Macron may have won a democratic election last May but "democracy does not mean shutting up for five years".

"People have the right to challenge him," said Ruffin, a journalist whose documentary "Merci Patron", about a poor couple who take on France's richest man, captured an angry zeitgeist and filled cinemas in 2015.

Numerous university faculties remain blocked by protests against Macron's plans to make university access more selective, causing major disruption to students starting their summer exams.

And Friday marked the latest in a series of rail strikes as train drivers and other staff object to Macron's overhaul of the SNCF, aimed at reducing its massive debts and making it more competitive.

Many French leftists have called for Macron's opponents, from students to striking rail workers, to join forces in a re-run of the massive May 1968 protest movement that shook France exactly half a century ago.

Urging a peaceful rally as "violence gets us nowhere," LFI leader Jean-Luc Melenchon said many French people wanted to see "deep societal change."

Saying that "a new cycle of mobilisation has begun," Melenchon also lauded public sector workers who he said deserved more credit.

Addressing supporters from a bus bearing the legend "When everything is privatised we shall be deprived of everything," he warned Macron many people were sickened by "endless gifts for the rich (given) the difficulty of the French people to make ends meet." </s> Thousands protest against Macron under heavy security in Paris

PARIS: Depicting the object of their ire as Napoleon, Dracula, Jupiter, a banker-king and Margaret Thatcher, tens of thousands marched through central Paris on Saturday to protest against President Emmanuel Macron’s sweeping reforms, a year after he took office.

Some 2,000 security forces including riot police were deployed just in case a generally good-natured rally went the same way as May Day protests hijacked by anarchists.

Marchers gathered from midday in warm early summer sunshine in the central Opera square for a protest dubbed a “Party for Macron”, a tongue-in-cheek “celebration” of the 40-year-old centrist and former Rothschild banker’s first anniversary in power.

Paris police put the number of marchers at 40,000 but organisers said it was 160,000.

Smaller rallies took place in the southern cities of Toulouse and Bordeaux while the Paris variant kicked off with a mass picnic which drew numerous families.

Organisers had urged participants to attend in a party mood -- but the high security owed much to hundreds of black-clad youths having torched cars and a McDonald’s restaurant during traditional May 1 demonstrations in the capital, prompting fears that more “black bloc” protesters could hijack Saturday’s event.

One protester held aloft a placard with the words Mac-ron is disgusting,” a play on words to show his feelings about the president and the fast food chain.

Organisers insisted the march from Opera to the Bastille area, east of the city centre, would be “joyful and festive”.

Government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux had expressed fears on Friday that the demonstration could turn violent, hence the high security.

He noted that the protest’s name, the “Fete a Macron”, can have a double meaning in French -- either celebrating someone, or trying to do them harm.

“We are worried that there could be violence, and so we’re reinforcing security measures,” Griveaux said, adding the police role was to ensure peaceful demonstrations could go ahead.

Some supporters of the left-wing populist La France Insoumise party (LFI) brandished anti-Macron banners with slogans including “down with the president of the rich”, “no to a social coup d’etat” and “for a Sixth Republic”. </s> Nearly 300 protesters were arrested after May Day riots in central Paris, where hooded youths torched a McDonald’s restaurant and several vehicles during a march against President Emmanuel Macron’s public sector reforms. Shouting “Rise up, Paris” and “Everyone hates the police”, around 1,200 people in black jackets and face masks yesterday joined the traditional May 1 union-led demonstration for workers’ rights, according to a count by Paris police. After trying to hold up the march a group of protesters ran amok along the route, destroying a McDonald’s restaurant near Austerlitz station, east of the city centre, and setting it ablaze. They also torched vehicles at a car dealership, along with a mechanical digger and a scooter, leaving a trail of destruction and plumes of dark smoke billowing into the air.

The worst unrest in months in Paris comes at a time of heightened tensions over Macron’s reform of the public sector and follows a showdown between police and anti-capitalist squatters at a sprawling commune in western France. The police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse the demonstrators. Last night 102 people remained in custody out of 276 who were arrested, police said, adding: “31 businesses were damaged, of which two were burned, 6 vehicles were burned and 10 others damaged.” Macron condemned the violence, posting on Twitter during his trip to Australia: “Everything will be done so that the perpetrators are identified and held responsible for their actions.” He added the demonstrations would be treated with “absolute firmness”.

The police had warned of the risk of extremist groups using May Day to set up a rematch of the clashes seen during demonstrations last year over Macron’s labour reforms and at an anti-capitalist camp in western France that was demolished by police earlier this month. “Macron makes us mad,” read a banner held by one masked demonstrator. “We’re tired of this capitalist system that destroys everything and of brutal police repression of all those who oppose it,” a 19-year-old student who was part of the group told AFP.

The scenes of looting and destruction overshadowed the May Day march, which drew between 20,000 and 55,000 peaceful protesters according to police and union estimates. Countrywide, around 143,000 people took part in labour marches, according to government estimates, up slightly on 2017. Trade unions and students’ unions have been trying to rally the French against Macron’s shake-up of indebted state rail operator SNCF and access to public universities, which they see as part of a rollback of France’s cherished public service. </s> Paris: Under the close watch of French police, thousands of protesters in Paris danced, picnicked and railed against President Emmanuel Macron at a "party" marking his first year in office.

Police fired tear gas on troublemakers on the margins of the largely festive protest on Saturday. Authorities deployed 2,000 police to the event after violence and ransacking scarred a May Day protest in the French capital earlier this week.

"Stop Macron!" read placards at Saturday's rally in front of Paris' famed Opera Garnier. Demonstrators then marched through tourist-filled neighborhoods toward the Bastille plaza in eastern Paris.

Organisers of Saturday's march, the far-left party Defiant France, planned the event around the one-year anniversary of Macron's May 7, 2017 election. He was inaugurated a week later, and quickly launched broad changes to France's labor rules to increase the nation's global competitiveness.

Protesters are angry at reforms led by Macron, a centrist former investment banker, such as cutting some worker protections and increasing police powers. </s> Police were out in force in central Paris on Saturday as thousands of people protested against Emmanuel Macron’s sweeping reforms a year after he assumed the presidency.

About 2,000 members of the security forces including riot police were deployed as marchers gathered in warm spring sunshine in Opera square for a protest labelled a “party for Macron”, a tongue-in-cheek “celebration” of the 40-year-old centrist’s first anniversary in power.

The event kicked off with a mass picnic, and smaller rallies took place in the southern cities of Toulouse and Bordeaux.

Organisers urged participants to attend in a party mood, but security was tight after cars and a McDonald’s restaurant were torched during the traditional May Day demonstrations in the capital.

Benjamin Griveaux, a government spokesman, had expressed fears on Friday that the demonstration could turn violent.

He noted that the protest’s name, the “fête a Macron”, can have a double meaning in French - either celebrating someone, or trying to do them harm.

“We are worried that there could be violence, and so we’re reinforcing security measures,” he said, adding the police role was to ensure a peaceful rally could go ahead.

The protest is the latest in a series of large demonstrations against Macron, whose overhauls of everything from the education system to the state rail operator have caused friction with various groups.

It was organised by François Ruffin, an MP for the leftwing party La France Insoumise, or France Unbowed, and other former members of the Nuit Debout, or Up All Night movement that staged nocturnal rallies across France in 2016.

Ruffin said this week that Macron may have won a democratic election last May but “democracy does not mean shutting up for five years”. “People have the right to challenge him,” he said. </s> Depicting the object of their ire as Napoleon, Dracula, Jupiter, a banker-king and Margaret Thatcher, tens of thousands marched through central Paris on Saturday to protest against President Emmanuel Macron’s sweeping reforms, a year after he took office.

Some 2,000 security forces including riot police were deployed just in case a generally good-natured rally went the same way as May Day protests hijacked by anarchists.

Marchers gathered from midday in warm early summer sunshine in the central Opera square for a protest dubbed a “Party for Macron”, a tongue-in-cheek “celebration” of the 40-year-old centrist and former Rothschild banker’s first anniversary in power.

Paris police put the number of marchers at 40,000 but organisers said it was 160,000.

“It was not the huge influx that they had predicted,” Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said, denouncing what he called an “attack” on an outside broadcast van of Franceinfo radio in the eastern quarter of Bastille, where the march ended.

One of its windows was smashed and a smoke bomb thrown inside the vehicle.

“Luckily no journalist was inside when the smoke bomb was thrown,” Collomb said.

Smaller rallies took place in the southern cities of Toulouse and Bordeaux while the Paris one kicked off with a mass picnic which drew numerous families.

Organisers had urged participants to attend in a party mood — but the high security owed much to hundreds of black-clad youths having torched cars and a McDonald’s restaurant during traditional May 1 demonstrations in the capital, prompting fears that more “black bloc” protesters could hijack Saturday’s event.

One protester held aloft a placard with the words Mac-ron is disgusting,” a play on words to show his feelings about the president and the fast food chain.

Government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux had expressed fears Friday that the demonstration could turn violent, hence the high security.

He noted that the protest’s name, the “Fete a Macron”, can have a double meaning in French — either celebrating someone, or trying to do them harm.

Some supporters of the left-wing populist La France Insoumise party (LFI) brandished anti-Macron banners with slogans including “down with the president of the rich”, “no to a social coup d’etat” and “for a Sixth Republic”.

The protest is the latest in a series of large street demonstrations against Macron, whose overhauls of everything from the education system to the state rail operator have been causing friction with various groups.

It was organised by firebrand LFI lawmaker Francois Ruffin and other ex-members of the Nuit Debout (Up All Night) leftist movement that staged nocturnal rallies across France in 2016.

Ruffin told AFP this week that Macron may have won a democratic election last May but “democracy does not mean shutting up for five years”.

“People have the right to challenge him,” said Ruffin, a journalist whose documentary “Merci Patron”, about a poor couple who take on France’s richest man, captured an angry zeitgeist and filled cinemas in 2015.

Some university faculties remain blocked by protests against Macron’s plans to make university access more selective, causing major disruption to students starting their summer exams.

Friday marked the latest in a series of rail strikes as train drivers and other staff took a stand against Macron’s overhaul of the SNCF, aimed at reducing its massive debts and making it more competitive.

Many French leftists have called for Macron’s opponents, from students to striking rail workers, to join forces in a re-run of the massive May 1968 protest movement that shook France exactly half a century ago.

Addressing supporters from a bus bearing the slogan “when everything is privatised we shall be deprived of everything”, he warned Macron many people were sickened by “endless gifts for the rich (given) the difficulty of the French people to make ends meet”.

Melenchon said Saturday was just the “first stage” of protests, announcing a new rally on May 26 and exhorting people to “turn up in their millions to become a human sea that will change history”. </s> PARIS (AP) — French police fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse demonstrators in Paris on Saturday, as thousands gathered in the capital and staged road blockades across the nation to vent anger against rising fuel taxes and Emmanuel Macron's presidency.

Thousands of police were deployed nationwide to contain the demonstrations, including a tense protest at the foot of the Champs-Elysees where protesters burned barriers and large plywood sheets, wielded placards reading "Death to Taxes" and upturned a large vehicle.

There were no immediate reports of injuries in the clashes, but 18 were detained for various acts including for "throwing projectiles," Paris police told The Associated Press.

"It's going to trigger a civil war and me, like most other citizens, we're all ready," said Benjamin Vrignaud, a 21-year-old protester from Chartres.

The famed avenue was speckled with plumes of smoke and neon — owing to the color of the vests the myriad self-styled "yellow jacket" protesters don. French drivers are required to keep neon security vests in their vehicles.

Authorities said that 5,000 protesters flooded the Champs-Elysees alone, with 23,000 protesters in total nationwide.

Interior Minister Christophe Castaner denounced protesters from the far-right whom he called "rebellious," as he accused the Marine Le Pen, party leader of the National Assembly, of encouraging them.

In a week of demonstrations that has dominated national news coverage, hundreds have been injured and two people were killed in accidents stemming from the protests.

The Interior Ministry played down the scale of Saturday's demonstrations by highlighting that last week's protest comprised more than 100,000 protesters across the country.

The unrest is proving a major challenge for embattled Macron, who's suffering in the polls and the focus of rage for the demonstrators, who accuse the pro-business centrist of indifference to the struggles of ordinary French.

Macron has insisted the fuel tax rises are a necessary pain to reduce France's dependence on fossil fuels and fund renewable energy investments — a cornerstone of his reforms of the nation. He will defend fresh plans to make the "energy transition" easier on Tuesday.

On Saturday, Paris deployed some 3,000 security forces, notably around tourist-frequented areas, after an unauthorized attempt last week to march on the presidential Elysee Palace.

Authorities said protesters have so far not breached a no-go zone set up by authorities around key areas including the presidential palace and the National Assembly on the Left Bank of the Seine River.

But authorities are struggling because the movement has no clear leader and has attracted a motley group of people with broadly varying demands.

A man caused a dramatic standoff with police Friday when he donned a neon vest and brandished an apparent grenade at a supermarket in the western city of Angers. He was later arrested.

Taxes on diesel fuel have gone up seven euro cents (nearly eight U.S. cents) and are to keep climbing in the coming years, Transport Minister Elisabeth Borne has said. The tax on gasoline is to increase 4 euro cents. Gasoline currently costs about 1.64 euros a liter in Paris ($7.06 a gallon), slightly more than diesel.

"When tax is no longer agreed to, it's the start of revolutions in France," far left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon told BFMTV.

Alex Turnbull, Chris Den Hond and Patrick Hermensen contributed to this report. </s> Nearly 300 protesters were arrested Tuesday after May Day riots in central Paris, where hooded youths torched a McDonald's restaurant and several vehicles during a march against President Emmanuel Macron's public sector reforms.

Shouting "Rise up, Paris" and "Everyone hates the police", around 1,200 people in black jackets and face masks joined the traditional May 1 union-led demonstration for workers' rights, according to a count by Paris police.

After trying to hold up the march a group of protesters ran amok along the route, destroying a McDonald's restaurant near Austerlitz station, east of the city centre, and setting it ablaze.

They also torched vehicles at a car dealership, along with a mechanical digger and a scooter, leaving a trail of destruction and plumes of dark smoke billowing into the air.

The worst unrest in months in Paris comes at a time of heightened tensions over Macron's reform of the public sector and follows a showdown between police and anti-capitalist squatters at a sprawling commune in western France.

The police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse the demonstrators.

On Tuesday night 102 people remained in custody out of 276 who were arrested, police said, adding: "31 businesses were damaged, of which two were burned, 6 vehicles were burned and 10 others damaged."

Macron condemned the violence, posting on Twitter during his trip to Australia: "Everything will be done so that the perpetrators are identified and held responsible for their actions."

He added the demonstrations would be treated with "absolute firmness".
Thousands of people in central Paris demonstrate in an anti-Macron protest against his sweeping reforms. 2,000 security forces are deployed.