Dozens arrested in Paris over overnight violence

At least 27 people were arrested by French police following a running overnight battle involving scores of hooded and masked youths in downtown Paris’s Place de la Republique square.

The incident and arrests is coming a day after separate protest marches over labour reform that were also marked by violence.

Paris riot police moved in to clear out a group of around 150 youths who refused to quit the vast open square which has been occupied daily for the past month by mostly peaceful sit-in protesters.

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The evacuation followed running battles between police and youths who set cars on fire and hurled lumps of concrete and cobblestones ripped up from the streets, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
It said 24 of the 27 arrested in the standoff were placed in custody.

“These are largely people coming looking for a fight,” Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said.

The late-night clashes followed a day of street marches in which dozens more were arrested.

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