‘Not the day of hooligans’: French government under fire following chaotic May Day protests
Youths ransacked and then set fire to a McDonald’s restaurant near the Austerlitz railway station, east of the city centre, and torched vehicles at a car showroom
France’s interior minister promised on Wednesday to boost security at protests after hooded youths ran amok at a May Day rally in Paris, torching cars and a McDonald’s restaurant.
Police said 109 people were in custody after the violence, which has sparked criticism that the government was unprepared for the 1,200 black-clad troublemakers who joined the traditional May 1 march for workers’ rights.
“The authority of the state, reduced to statements of ‘strong condemnation’, has been tarnished once again,” read a column in the right-leaning Figaro newspaper.
May 1 is Workers’ Day, not the day of the hooligans
Regional daily L’Est Republicain deplored “the sight of these 1,200 thugs dressed in black on the Austerlitz bridge”, while the L’Alsace newspaper declared: “Governing means planning ahead.”
Interior Minister Gerard Collomb pledged to look again at how to police protests given the rise of far-left “black bloc” protesters who turn up with the intention of attacking police or property.
“For the next demonstrations there will be even more security forces, this time with the intention of totally separating protesters from those who have come to smash things up,” Collomb told France 2 television.
But he defended the way police had handled the violence, saying little could be done to stop troublemakers from infiltrating the crowds.