Paris May Day Protests

Paris riot police fired teargas as they squared off against hardline demonstrators among tens of thousands of May Day protesters, who flooded the city Wednesday in a test for France's zero-tolerance policy on street violence.

French President Emmanuel Macron was under fire on Monday in the biggest political crisis of his tenure after the interior minister and a police chief said the presidency told them in May it would deal with a bodyguard filmed hitting protesters.

Alexandre Benalla, the disgraced former security aide to President Emmanuel Macron, has defended taking part in a police operation during a May Day protest, saying he was "lending a hand", his lawyers said Monday.

French police said 109 people were in custody on Wednesday after violent May Day protests in Paris, correcting an earlier figure of 209 given by Interior Minister Gerard Collomb.

Hooded protesters clashed with police in Paris on Sunday during a May Day rally against planned labour reforms, while the government insisted it would not withdraw the bill which is due to be debated in parliament later this week.

Paris riot police fired teargas as they squared off against hardline demonstrators among tens of thousands of May Day protesters, who flooded the city Wednesday in a test for France's zero-tolerance policy on street violence.

French President Emmanuel Macron was under fire on Monday in the biggest political crisis of his tenure after the interior minister and a police chief said the presidency told them in May it would deal with a bodyguard filmed hitting protesters.

Alexandre Benalla, the disgraced former security aide to President Emmanuel Macron, has defended taking part in a police operation during a May Day protest, saying he was "lending a hand", his lawyers said Monday.

French police said 109 people were in custody on Wednesday after violent May Day protests in Paris, correcting an earlier figure of 209 given by Interior Minister Gerard Collomb.

Hooded protesters clashed with police in Paris on Sunday during a May Day rally against planned labour reforms, while the government insisted it would not withdraw the bill which is due to be debated in parliament later this week.