Police car set alight as French cops demonstrate against anti-police hatred

Police unions estimate 350 of their colleagues have been injured in attacks since street protests against reform of labour laws began two months ago

A burning police car that was set on fire by protestors during clashes as part of a demonstration, that had been banned, against police violence (EPA)

A police car was set alight in the heart of Paris today after protesters were pushed away from a police demonstration against anti-police hatred and violence.

The police vehicle was struck by a molotov cocktail on the Quai Valmy in the 10th arrondissement, close to the scene of the jihadist attacks in Paris last November.

The fire was rapidly brought under control. Two police officers were hauled from the car by the protestors and escaped unhurt.

Protesters set a police car on fire during clashes as part as a demonstration, that had been banned, against police violence (EPA)

Police officers stand guard next to a burned-out police car (AFP)

The attack happened after a group of young, hooded protesters was pushed by riot police off the nearby Place de la République as other police officers gathered to complain about violent attacks by demonstrators over the last two months.

The demonstration – unprecedented in France – was called by police unions. Several right-wing and hard-right members of parliament, including Marion Maréchal Le Pen, niece of the Front National president Marine Le Pen, joined the demonstrating officers.

Police unions estimate that 350 of their colleagues have been injured, some seriously, in attacks with stones, bottles and molotov cocktails since street protests against reform of labour laws began two months ago. Some demonstrators accuse the police – especially the CRS riot police – of behaving with disproportionate violence themselves.

A group called “Urgence, notre police assassin” – “Emergency, our police murder people” – defied a government ban and assembled close to the police demonstration in the Place de la République just before mid-day.

Riot police and gendarmerie units brought in from the provinces pushed them off the square. Shortly afterwards the police car was set alight.

A burned-out police car near to a protest by police officers against "anti-police hatred" (AFP)

Gilbert Collard, one of two Front National members of the National Assembly, described the attack on the police car as a “declaration of war”.

Left wing demontrators had earlier accused the police union Alliance of “deliberate provocation” by holding their demonstration on the Place de la République. The large square in eastern Paris has become the home of nightly protests against the labour law reform – and against capitalism in general – by the amorphously left-wing Nuit Debout (“night uprising”) movement since late March.

Police officers at the demonstration – and similar gatherings in other French cities – said that they and their colleagues are “exhausted” by extra work generated by the state of emergency following the November terrorist attacks in which 130 people died.

One officer admitted that fatigue had sometimes led to “overreactions” by his colleagues. These were just “isolated” actions, he said, compared to systematic assaults on police line by a fringe of young radical protesters, armed with stone, iron, bars, bottles and molotov cocktails.

A protester hits a policeman with a bar after attacking a police car during a demonstration (EPA)

“Look at the figures (for police and demonstrator injuries),” he said. “There is no comparison.”

President François Hollande issued a statement saying that he was “squarely on the side” of the police.

Rail services throughout France were disrupted yesterday by the first day of a two day strike by some rail unions against the proposed changes in labour law and against plans to privatise some rail services in France. Truck drivers also continued blockages of fuel depots and refineries which have caused petrol shortages in Normandy and some other regions.