More than 300,000 people joined May Day rallies across France on Wednesday, unions said, with protests mostly peaceful – apart from in Paris where masked demonstrators targeted Socialist MPs and dozens were arrested. Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau called the attacks “absolutely disgraceful and unacceptable”.
Trade unions urged the public to take to the streets for higher wages, the repeal of the pension reform that raised the retirement age to 64, and to oppose what they called the “Trumpification of the world” – a reference to US President Donald Trump’s populist policies.
