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French prosecutors have launched an attempted murder investigation after petrol bombs were thrown at police during unrest, French media reported, according to BBC World.
Footage of a police officer with his leg on fire during a clash with protesters in Paris on Saturday prompted outrage. The officer, who suffered burns to his ankle and minor injuries to his hand, described the device to French newspaper “Le Figaro” as “particularly sophisticated”.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said throwing a Molotov cocktail at a police line was “what I call a murder attempt”, adding that officers were working to identify those responsible. Police said no one had been arrested over the attack shown in the footage, AFP reported.
The officer, a member of the National Gendarmerie, said his unit “suddenly found ourselves facing several hundred hostile, well equipped adversaries”. He told “Le Figaro” that police had not yet identified the liquid used, and that the device “had a far greater burning capacity than a standard Molotov cocktail”.
“We faced hostile individuals who are not protesters,” he said. “These adversaries are there with the intent to harm those who represent the state.” He said 14 other officers suffered injuries ranging from minor to serious, and some were hit by paving stones. The unit had been on leave but was urgently recalled to police the weekend protests.
Hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated across France on Saturday, mostly peacefully. The latest in a series of youth-led protests that began in late September called for action on the high cost of living and poor public services, particularly schools. Thousands of police officers were deployed nationwide after earlier clashes and looting, and officers fired tear gas at demonstrators in some cities.
France’s interior ministry said more than 770 people were arrested on Saturday, roughly half the number arrested during the previous week’s protests. The Yellow Vests, a protest movement, said dozens of demonstrators had been seriously injured in recent demonstrations across the country, many by “grenades”. France suspended the use of one type of stun grenade during student protests in early October after a 15-year-old lost a hand; “Le Monde” reported that police continued using a different model in later protests.
Protests also took place in Germany and Italy over the weekend. Youth-led demonstrations are continuing in parts of Europe, with varying demands broadly linked to the cost of living and public services.
