FRANCE: One policeman was seriously injured and dozens more treated for injuries when they confronted protesting dock workers outside the European Parliament in Strasbourg yesterday evening.
In what was described as some of the most serious rioting seen in the city for some time, water cannon and tear gas was used to disperse protesters who had attacked police with bricks, stones, steel bolts, bottles and batons.
An estimated 200,000sq metres of glass in the recently refurbished parliament building was smashed by some of the rioters who used catapults and slings to hurl missiles at the police and the building.
Cars were burned by some of the 10,000- strong group of protesters who had travelled to the parliament to protest against an EU Ports Directive which is opposed by the dockers and the European Transport Federation, which organised the protest.
For a time, no access to the parliament was possible as sections of the protesters fought running battles with the riot police under a haze of tear gas which hung over the area and seeped into the building itself.
While most demonstrators behaved in a peaceful manner, a sizeable group had come prepared for trouble. Many of these carried gas masks and face masks.
While the police made only 20 arrests and said there were few protesters injured, I saw many dockers with head injuries being assisted to their buses by colleagues to be taken from the area rather than risk being arrested in hospital. I saw one group of masked protesters overturn and attempt to set a car on fire and others threw rocks and bolts at nearby buildings.
The behaviour of what he termed a "tiny minority" of the demonstrators was condemned by Proinsias De Rossa, who said he hoped the directive would be defeated by parliament as it could affect thousands of jobs in Ireland and across Europe.