2 May 2021 the Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed to AFP, May 1 at the end of the Labor Day rally in Paris violence, resulting in the French General Trade Union members were injured, prosecutors have launched an investigation into the gang’s deliberate violence and insults.
At around 18:00 on May 1, union activists became victims of violence by “a large group” of people at the end of a Labor Day rally in Paris’ National Square, injuring 21 people, four of whom were seriously injured, but have been discharged from the hospital and damaged a union car, France’s BFM television reported.
In an interview with LCI news station, Philippe Martinez, general secretary of the French Federation of Trade Unions, condemned it as a “shameful moment” and said security at the rally was not guaranteed when vehicles were banned from leaving the square. Benjamin Amar, a member of the management of the French Federation of Trade Unions, told BFM television on Tuesday that although the issue was “very complex”, he had no doubt that it was the work of far-right ideology, “racism, sexism, homophobic insults abound, in addition to class insults.” ”
Other trade unions and politicians have also spoken out against the atrocities, with Laurent Berger, secretary-general of the French Workers’ Union, tweeting his solidarity with the French General Trade Union, arguing that trade unions and their activists should not be victims of atrocities.
Eric Dupont-Moretti, France’s justice minister, said such incidents were unprecedented. Labor Minister Elizabeth Bone condemned the riots at the Labour Day event “very strongly.” Marlene Siapa, the interior ministry’s minister for citizenship, expressed support for union members in an interview with France’s Info on Tuesday, saying such incidents were “clearly totally unacceptable and intolerable.” Olivier Fowler, first secretary of the left-wing Socialist Party, said it undermined workers’ holidays. Jean-Luc Melanchon, the leader of the far-left “France Does Not Give In”, attacked the violence against major trade unions on Labor Day as a sign of the seriousness of the incident.
France’s General Trade Union says 150,000 people took to the streets on May 1st, Labor Day. According to the French Interior Ministry, there were 281 demonstrations across the country, with more than 106,000 people taking to the streets, including about 17,000 in Paris. A total of 56 people were arrested during the event, including 46 in Paris. On the same day, six police officers were injured in law enforcement, three of them in Paris.
