Lorient, Rennes, Brest… Clashes in Brittany [Vidéo] – Pension reform

“Unacceptable attacks and degradations against the sub-prefecture and the Lorient police station. Thoughts to injured officials. These acts cannot go unpunished”. It was shortly before 2 p.m. that Gérald Darmanin, Minister of the Interior, tweeted his anger following the attack on the Lorient police station by some of the demonstrators. The latter attacked the police building. The exchanges were violent.

In the middle of the afternoon, the Alliance PN 56 union demanded “immediate reinforcements before the occurrence of an announced human tragedy”. This Thursday, in the department, the prefecture of Morbihan deplored “six minor injuries” among the police who made seven arrests.

Between 22,100 (prefecture) and 35,000 people (unions) marched through the streets of the Breton capital at the end of the morning. After a morning of blocking certain roads, the start of the demonstration went smoothly, but, in the middle of the day, clashes with the police broke out. The authorities used water cannons, tear gas… to disperse the demonstrators. The CRS charged the most radical who were blocking the quays of the Vilaine. The firefighters also had to intervene to put out various fires, including an impressive fireplace on the quays, partly lit with the equipment of a ransacked real estate agency. Until the evening, several interventions were necessary at various points in the city, in particular towards the Place des Lices or in the Vilaine car park, where thugs set fire to a vehicle. Bus shelters were also broken.

In Brest, the inter-union demonstration brought together nearly 30,000 people who marched peacefully through the streets of the city in the morning. The situation degenerated at the beginning of the afternoon, when several hundred demonstrators, facing the CRS, took the direction of the Harteloire bridge, breaking several windows of shops and banks in the process. Two hours of chaos shook the city. Around 3:30 p.m., calm returned to the streets, which remained under the surveillance of the police, however, fearing new overflows in the evening. At least four arrests would have taken place near the cemetery of Saint-Martin.

Near Quimperlé, the RN165 was blocked at Mellac (29). Smoke bombs in hand, some of the 500 demonstrators crossed the security barriers and blocked the expressway. Same scenario on the RN12 near Guingamp, where opponents of the reform were dislodged manu militari from the road by the police. In Morlaix, the demonstrators blocked the rails of the station in the middle of the day before dispersing calmly. In Lannion, shortly before noon, the demonstrators had gathered calmly in the parking lot of the airport. In Dinan, a more tense situation where the office of the Renaissance deputy, Chantal Bouloux, was vandalized.