Iran Press/ Iran news: "The violent encounter between the #French police and the protesting citizens and workers of this country on International Workers Day is deeply regrettable," Nasser Kanaani tweeted."We still advise the French government to listen to the voices of its protesting citizens and avoid resorting to violence against them," the tweet reads.
In Paris, trade union-led protests began peacefully with many families joining in, holding banners calling for social justice and calling for Macron's resignation or the withdrawal of his law to raise the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64.
But as demonstrators marched through Paris's 11th arrondissement, police fired tear gas and clashed with groups of young men dressed in black.
Demonstrators also set trash cans on fire and threw Molotov cocktails at the police.
Also, some bus stops and shop fronts in Paris were broken and graffitied with anti-police slogans. When the march reached its final point in the National Square, the police fired tear gas and pushed the crowd back.
There was also unrest in Lyon, where several cars were set on fire and the windows of some shops were broken. In Nantes in western France, demonstrators piled up buckets and set fire in front of an office building, broke shop windows, and police fired tear gas at protesters.
In Marseille, a group of about 100 demonstrators briefly occupied a luxury hotel near the old port before being pushed back by police. Tear gas was also fired in Toulouse and Rennes.
Police were given last-minute permission to use drones as a security measure to further monitor demonstrators after a Paris court rejected requests from human rights groups not to use drones.
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