Police have arrested around 50 people at a banned pro-Palestinian protest in central Paris that degenerated into clashes between demonstrators and armour-clad riot squads.
The rally, which gathered an estimated 5000 people in the capital's Place de la Republique, dispersed after 90 minutes during which police who were targeted with rocks and other projectiles responded with tear gas.
The demonstration against Israel's Gaza offensive that has killed more than 1000 Palestinians comes after other protests last weekend in Paris and a suburb that had also initially been banned descended into chaos.
Organisers of Saturday's protest had tried going to court to get the ban overturned, but they were unsuccessful and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve warned that they would be held "responsible for any unrest... and liable to penal sanctions".
Of those arrested, some 30 people were detained pending decisions on whether to charge them, according to preliminary figures.
Share

