More than a thousand people, according to an AFP photographer, were marching Saturday in Nantes against the pension reform and precariousness, during a tense demonstration marked by clashes between police and protesters.
The demonstration, whose departure was set at 14:00 at the "crossroads of trams", began to degenerate after 15:00 when demonstrators began to attack the prefecture by throwing projectiles, bottles and cobblestones, the police fighting back by tear gas.
Black blocks in number
There were at least two arrests, according to an AFP photographer, and the demonstration is being held in the presence of a large police force. Many "black blocks" and protesters with masked and hooded faces are present in the procession.
Unidentified protesters then blocked a downtown street, stole umbrellas from a terrace, wooden planks and chairs, which they launched onto the CRS.
Several windows, bus shelters, street furniture, were ransacked and at 16:00 a large tear gas cloud was visible at the "Miroir d'eau" where the police were trying to repel the protesters.