May Day parades: 300,000 people according to the CGT, incidents in Paris and Nantes

More than 300,000 people demonstrated in France on Thursday for May Day, including 100,000 in Paris, according to an upward figure from the CGT union to AFP, while the figures from the authorities were not immediately available.

"This day of demonstrations is a great success, we have counted 270 demonstrations throughout France and, at this stage, we count 250,000 demonstrators, so the total number will be higher," said the union's number one, Sophie Binet, on LCI in the afternoon.

Shortly after, the union revised its figure upwards, reporting "more than 300,000" protesters, including 100,000 in Paris. Last year, the union counted 210,000 protesters in France (including 50,000 in Paris), and the authorities counted 121,000.

Incidents between protesters disrupted the Parisian college. The leader of the Socialist deputies, Boris Vallaud, denounced "serious and unacceptable violence" and promised to take legal action after a stampede involving activists and elected officials of the Socialist Party (PS), who were attacked in the Parisian procession.

"Serious and unacceptable violence. These troublemakers are the enemies of workers and the left. My full support to the injured comrades," Boris Vallaud wrote on X, announcing that he would contact the public prosecutor. "They don't scare us, they won't silence the socialists," he added.

According to several witnesses, protesters dressed in black, some carrying anti-fascist flags, violently heckled and pushed elected officials and Socialist Party activists who had stands along the route of the demonstration. "Everyone hates the Socialist Party," chanted these protesters, hostile to the Socialist presence, in a tense atmosphere.

Socialist MP Jérôme Guedj, who had to leave a rally against Islamophobia on Sunday , had to be removed from the procession, according to television images.

Asked on LCI whether the socialists were not welcome in the procession, the general secretary of the CGT, Sophie Binet, replied that "it is violence that is not welcome in these processions."

Clashes also broke out in the center of Nantes during the demonstration, which brought together 5,000 people, the prefecture said, adding that 15 arrests had been made. The procession, in which union flags mingled with banners displaying anti-capitalist messages and support for Gaza, set off from the reflecting pool late in the morning.

The Loire-Atlantique prefecture reported on X that "protesters damaged the prefecture and threw projectiles and mortars at the police." "The police responded by using water cannons and tear gas," it added.

Calm then returned until the protesters dispersed. In 2024, the Nantes May Day demonstration, which brought together 3,550 people according to the prefecture, had already seen damage to businesses along the fringes of the procession, while the police used tear gas.