While many black blocs were in the procession, the first projectiles thrown at the police, followed by tear gas, occurred at the Quai de la Fosse about half an hour after the departure of the procession, according to AFP journalists on the spot.
Other clashes also broke out around 13:30 p.m. at the prefecture. The windows of a Uniqlo store in the city center were shattered by cobblestones on the first floor, the ground floor of the store being protected by wooden panels following damage during a previous demonstration, according to an AFP journalist.
A protester was wounded in the hand and taken care of by the Samu, we learned from the prefecture. No details on the circumstances of the accident or the severity of the injury were available by early afternoon.
Many families took part in this demonstration, one of the largest in Nantes since the beginning of the mobilization against the pension reform. It gathered 17,500 according to the police, more than 80,000 people, according to a provisional count of the CGT.
A protester holds a sign "the police are not the solution, it's the problem" during the May 1, 2023 parade in Nantes © LOIC VENANCE / AFP
Police arrested at least 14 protesters, according to the prefecture.
The center of Nantes, regularly the scene of violent clashes between black blocs and police, was placed under increased police surveillance on Monday.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin had announced that "radical elements" were expected in Rennes and Nantes on Monday, and four units of mobile forces were mobilized in these two cities.
During a previous demonstration, a breakdown organized on April 24 for the first anniversary of Emmanuel Macron's re-election ended in clashes and a 37-year-old man was wounded in the lower abdomen by a LBD shot. He had to undergo the removal of a testicle and the prosecutor's office referred the matter to the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN).
© 2023 AFP