Moscow - As many as 62 French activists who participated in the nationwide rallies against unpopular labour bills were arrested on Thursday, 32 of them remanded in custody, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said in a statement.
"Since the start of the protests against the labour law, as much as 620 policemen and gendarmes were injured. This violence is unacceptable, it has led to the arrests of 62 individuals, 32 were remanded in custody," the statement reads.
An estimated 170,000 people took part in mass demonstrations across France. In Paris, protesters threw projectiles at police officers as they used tear gas against the crowds. Rallies were held in the cities of Rouen, Saint-Etienne, and Belfort, as well as the commune of Gueret, according to media reports.
France has been hit by massive long-standing nationwide protests and sporadic strikes over an extremely unpopular labour reform bill, which seeks to extend working hours, impose a cap on damages in cases of unfair dismissal as well as to remove barriers to firing employees on economic grounds.
The protests resulted in disruptions of work at energy industry, public transport system as well as in blockading country's largest wholesale food market south of Paris.
Sputnik