STORY
The ground strewn with stones and remains of barricades burned, the bus shelters shattered, cars burned ... If the calm had returned to the place of Italy, to Paris, Saturday at the end of the day, the stigmata of an afternoon of violence were obvious. Epilogue of a day "anniversary" marked by very strong tensions in the capital.
"Everyone is huddled and it's farting"
It all started late in the morning as protesters gathered for an authorized procession. A group of ultra-radicals begins to sow chaos. "It's gone like that at once, we do not even know why," testifies Bérangère near Europe 1. "We were in a small corner and we saw that there was gas everywhere .. . ", she continues.
"That's not what I was hoping for, but I knew 200% that it was going to be like that," sighs Bruno. "Because everything was closed around, so obviously everyone is huddled up and it's all gone."
Two policemen pursued by black blocks
The authorized demonstration is finally banned by the authorities, announcing a situation that will remain tense for several hours. The clashes multiply, grenades deencclement respond to the throwing of cobblestones in a cloud of tear gas and the misunderstanding of the peaceful demonstrators, who were not allowed to leave the place. "I would like to demonstrate, especially, it was the first goal of our coming to all," said one participant. "And here we are stuck in the square, we are gassed, it is the culmination of the denial of the freedom to demonstrate!"
Two scenes testify in any case of the violence of the radical elements of the afternoon: firefighters, come to extinguish the barricades, taken to pieces and caillassés, and two policemen, pursued by black blocks which have their salvation that at the open door of a launderette in which they could take refuge.