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Global Climate Change 2015: Police fire tear gas into crowds as 100 protesters arrested in Paris

The planned protest march on the capital’s streets was banned as part of the security crackdown following the Paris attacks 

Loulla-Mae Eleftheriou-Smith
Sunday 29 November 2015 17:54 GMT
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Clouds of tear gas fill the air as demonstrators clash with French CRS riot police at the Place de la Republique after the cancellation of the planned climate march
Clouds of tear gas fill the air as demonstrators clash with French CRS riot police at the Place de la Republique after the cancellation of the planned climate march

Riot police have fired tear gas into crowds of protesters at the Place de la Republique in Paris and arrested as many as 100 people ahead of critical global warming talks to be held outside the city on Monday.

France has been placed under a state of emergency since coordinated attacks in the capital city that killed 130 people.

A protester in a mask walks past smoke as demonstators clash with French riot police during on Place de la Republique ahead of the COP21 World Climate Change Conference
Climate change protesters had gathered despite a ban on public protesting due to the state of emergency declared in France
People form a human chain to show solidarity for climate change after the cancellation of the planned climate march

A ban has been imposed on all protests under the security measure and police fired numerous rounds of tear gas into crowds in the square, where Parisians have been gathering to place flowers in remembrance of those killed in the recent attacks.

Despite the ban, thousands had gathered in central Paris and formed a human chain along the route of the long-planned protest march, before being dispersed.

Britain's leader of the opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn (L), and fashion designer Vivienne Westwood (R) attend a rally held the day before the start of the Paris Climate Change Summit, in London

Paris police chief Michel Cadot told reporters around 100 people had been detained.

He told reporters police had identified about 200 to 300 people who violated the ban on all protests, and that around 100 people who were found to have projectiles or other suspicious objects had been arrested.

A record 50,000 people reportedly marched through London on Sunday, in a demonstration joined by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, designer Vivienne Westwood and actor Emma Thompson. Singer Charlotte Church took a Welsh choir along to the march to perform a specially-written song.

Climate change events were taking place across the globe on Sunday, with marches held in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paolo, Sydney, Canberra, Hong Kong and Berlin.

Additional reporting by PA

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