All-black-clad protesters harassed marching lawmakers and supporters of France's moderate left Socialist Party (PS) on Thursday, marring Paris's Labour Day procession as hundreds of thousands rallied across the country, reports the Herald Sun.
International Workers' Day rallies across France drew more than 300,000 on Thursday, including 100,000 in Paris, the CGT trade union told AFP, while police put the total figure at 157,000.
Police said the Paris procession, where an AFP journalist saw protesters covered up in black clothing roughly jostling PS politicians and activists, drew 32,000.
While the march in the capital largely passed off without incident, Socialist lawmakers complained of being assaulted in with punches and flares, leading to dozens of arrests in the afternoon.
"Everyone hates the PS," chanted the protesters, some of whom were carrying far-left anti-fascist flags, according to the AFP correspondent.
The PS is regularly accused of betrayal by the radical and hard left.
Socialist deputy Jérôme Guedj, who quit a rally against Islamophobia on Sunday after being targeted by anti-Semitic invective, had to be escorted away from the procession.