The day of May 1 was "stolen by the violence of a few," said Wednesday Interior Minister Christophe Castaner in Paris, after demonstrations attended by between 164,500 and 310,000 people in France, and marked by tensions in the capital.
The hospital of La Pitié-Salpêtrière "attacked", according to Castaner
"I really regret that the day of 1-May was stolen by the violence of a few," said the minister during an early evening trip to the hospital of La Pitié-Salpêtrière, in the 13th arrondissement , where was admitted a CRS wounded in the head. According to the minister, the hospital, located near the Place d'Italie where the trade union's journey ended in a cloud of tear gas and after clashes, was "attacked" by dozens of anti-capitalist activists. "ultragauche" black blocks "who would have wanted to go through the emergency exit. "Nurses had to preserve the resuscitation service and our police forces intervened immediately," he said at a press briefing. Thirty people were arrested, a police officer told the minister during his visit.
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"Full support for the teams at La Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital who faced a gang of protesters / thugs in an attempt to violently intrude into the surgical resuscitation department!" And which prevented the endangerment of patients. Thank you to the police, "tweeted the Director General of Public Assistance - Hospitals of Paris (AP-HP), Martin Hirsh, announcing that a complaint would be filed.
"800 to 1,000 people come to fight"
The Paris demonstration gathered 28,000 people according to the Interior, 80,000 according to the CGT. According to an Occurence count for media including AFP, they were 40,000. According to Christophe Castaner, "800 to 1,000 people came to fight". "All along the way, people have come to break, burn, attack and steal from trade unions their International Labor Day and their mobilization," he said.
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The interior minister has greeted the Paris police chief Didier Lallement the "doctrine of immediate impact" set up in the capital to "prevent, disperse in a systematic way" the "black blocks" from their constitution. "It's a day that has injured, which has done little damage" in Paris and major provincial cities, said the minister.
The police carried out 3,777 preventive controls on the outskirts of Paris and nearly 15,000 in the capital, he said.