Violence erupts during French May Day protests

Nearly 540 protesters have been arrested and dozens of police officers were wounded after rioting against President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform broke out during May Day protests in France.

At least 108 police were wounded, 25 in the capital, and 291 people detained across France as violence erupted in several cities on the sidelines of the main union-led marches, La Parisien reported.

Protesters clashed with security forces across France on May 1 as hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets for Labour Day to vent their anger against President Macron, who last month signed a law to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64, despite months of strikes, according to Al Jazeera.

Unions had been hoping for a vast turnout nationwide to further rattle Macron, who has been greeted by pot-bashing and jeers as he toured the country seeking to defend the reforms and relaunch his second term.

Video footage from various cities showed massive damage to property. In the capital and other major cities, police used drones for the first time to monitor the situation.