Organizers of the Sunday’s march in Paris claim that as many as 140,000 people joined the action to protest skyrocketing prices and climate inaction of the government, French broadcaster BFMTV reported on Sunday.
The protest was called by Jean-Luc Melenchon’s the France Unbowed party and other left-wing parties, including Europe Ecology – The Greens and the Socialist Party, along with several French unions and associations. The activists demanded higher wages and social benefits, windfall taxes on energy companies, capping electricity bills and investment in ecological projects. Calls against soaring fuel and food prices and the controversial pension reform could also be heard at the rally.
Organizers reported that 140,000 people attended the protest march, while Parisian police expected only 30,000 to show up, the broadcaster said.
Earlier on Sunday, a Sputnik correspondent reported that the demonstration was controlled by police cordons, with protesters marching peacefully until radical youth from the black bloc movement joined the procession. Aggressive youths were provoking law enforcement by throwing bottles and smoke pellets. The police fired tear gas in response.
Other radical black bloc youths began to smash the windows of banks and snatched phones from journalists to prevent them from recording their actions.
