Violence occurred during a demonstration against pension reform in Paris, as hundreds of protesters dressed in black smashed shop windows. While the "CGT" union announced that the number of demonstrators reached a total of 3.5 million people Thursday in various parts of France.
A total of 3.5 million people demonstrated Thursday across France, according to the "CGT" union, while the number, according to the Ministry of the Interior, was limited to 1.08 million, in a ninth day of mobilization against the amendment of the pension system, marked by a clear increase in participation.
In Paris, the General Trade Union (CGT) announced the participation of 800,000 people, compared to 119,000, according to the Ministry of the Interior.
Soon, acts of violence were recorded, especially the throwing of stones and bottles and the firing of explosives at the security forces, along with the smashing of facades and bus stops, and the burning of waste containers.
Angry protesters blocked access to an airport building, sat on train tracks, clashed with police and threw projectiles at a police station.
Police responded with tear gas to protesters in the western city of Nantes. BFM television footage showed police using water cannon in Rennes. Also in the west, in Lorient, West France newspaper said the projectiles briefly caused a fire in the yard of a police station.
Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport, on the outskirts of Paris, was subjected to delinquent behavior by workers. Near Toulouse, in the southwest, burning piles of rubble blocked traffic on a motorway and sent smoke billowing up.
On Tuesday, French Interior Minister Gerard Darmanin announced that "12,000 policemen and gendarmes" had been mobilized Thursday in France, including "five thousand in Paris" for this new day of union action.