Anti-gay marriage protesters fight Paris police
About 100 youths with shaved heads, hoods and masks storm barricades
PARIS Paris police used tear gas and batons to fight crowds who pushed their way onto the landmark ChampsElysées and toward the presidential palace in a huge protest against a draft law allowing same-sex couples to marry and adopt children.
Hundreds of thousands — conservative activists, children and their parents, retirees, priests — converged on the capital Sunday in a bid to stop the bill, many bused in from the provinces.
The violence took protesters and police by surprise, and suggested that the antigay marriage protests have become outlets for anger and disappointment in Francois Hollande’s presidency.
The lower house of France’s parliament approved the “marriage for everyone” bill last month with a large majority, and it’s facing a vote in the Senate next month. Both houses are dominated by Hollande’s Socialist Party and its allies.
Sustained protests led by conservatives in this traditionally Catholic country have eroded support for the draft law in recent months, and organizers hope Sunday’s march will swing the Senate debate against it.
The first few hours of the protest were peaceful. But as it was meant to be winding down, about 100 youths tried to push past police barricades onto the Champs-Elysées, the tree-lined avenue that draws throngs of tourists daily. In an indication of the sensitivity of the issue, protesters had been barred from marching on the Champs.
Police officers wrangled with the youths, some with shaved heads and others wearing hoods or masks, and fired tear gas to force them back. Gaining momentum, more and more protesters took side streets to reach the avenue, blocking a key intersection — and some made it within 100 metres of the grounds of the president’s Elysée Palace.
Police fired more tear gas, primarily at aggressive youths at the front of the crowd. Protesters of all ages were among those coughing and clutching their stinging eyes.