French police turned the tables on violent protesters on Wednesday by staging their own protests around the country to denounce the “anti-cop hatred” they say they have suffered in two months of protests against labour reforms, reports The Telegraph.
But in a sign that their call is not being heard by all, an angry crowd torched a police car in central Paris after surrounding the vehicle, forcing the officers inside to flee.
The incident took place just a few hundred yards from where law enforcement officers were staging a rally to vent frustration over near daily clashes with violent gangs on the fringes of protests against the Socialist government’s reform to make it easier to hire and fire.
The officers were forced to abandon the car when a smoke bomb was thrown inside by people chanting "police everywhere, justice nowhere".
Police staged rallies in around 60 towns and cities across France with the Paris event held in the Place de la République – the epicentre of a movement against the government reforms called Nuit Debout (Up All Night), which has been going on since March.
The police car was torched after activists were denied permission to stage a counter-demonstration against police violence in the same square ahead of the rally.
Several hundred counter-demonstrators turned up all the same, chanting slogans including: "Everybody hates the police" until eventually the police deployed tear gas to disperse them.