Police and demonstrators have clashed in Paris as tens of thousands took the streets to protest against new security legislation, a controversy intensified by the beating and racial abuse of a Black man by officers that shocked France.
The demonstrations against the security law – which would restrict the police officers’ faces – took place nationwide on Saturday with 46,000 marching in Paris according to the government and several fires erupting after clashes.
Police complained that protesters were impeding fire services from putting out the blazes and said nine people had been detained by the early evening.
But Al Jazeera’s Natacha Butler reporting from Paris said “those were relatively minor incidents in what was a very peaceful protest”.
