Police in Paris use tear gas to disperse crowds
PARIS, France — Police fired tear gas and blocked demonstrators from marching through Paris to protest police brutality and racial injustice.
The tear gas began just as a group of extreme-right counter demonstrators were dislodged from the roof of a building overlooking the protest.
Protesters set off firecrackers and shouted at police but were otherwise peaceful. Families and others trying to leave the protest struggled to get out because police had blocked off most exit routes. The remaining crowd took a knee.
Police decided to bar the crowd from marching from the Place de la Republique in eastern Paris toward the city’s main opera house. A police official told The Associated Press the decision was made because of a nationwide ban on gatherings of more than 10 people to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
The counter demonstrators had earlier unfurled a banner about “anti-white racism” and lit flares in the blue-white-red colours of the French flag.
Residents reached out their windows to tear down the banner. Activists later confronted the far-right activists on the roof, throwing their bags and ropes to the pavement below.
