Paris riot police clash with activists during climate change demonstration

Protesters clash with riot police during a rally against global warming in Paris, a day ahead of the start of UN conference on climate change COP21. . (AFP PHOTO/FRANCOIS GUILLOT)

PARIS: Paris riot police fired teargas Sunday (Nov 29) in clashes with far-left activists in Paris during a climate change demonstration ahead of key UN talks after several thousand protesters had formed a human chain in the city.

Riot police moved in after a small group of protesters pelted officers with bottles and candles from one of the tributes to the victims of the Nov 13 attacks on the French capital. Around 100 people were arrested.

Around 4,500 activists had earlier linked hands in a peaceful protest near the site of the deadliest of the attacks, pleading for leaders to curb global warming. The colourful human chain passed near the Bataclan concert hall where 90 people were killed in the suicide bombings and shootings.

Stretching for two kilometres along a wind-blown Boulevard Voltaire in eastern Paris, it was the first organised demonstration since the attacks claimed by the Islamic State in which 130 people died and hundreds were injured.

Out of respect for the dead, the protesters left a 100-metre gap in front of the mass of flowers and candles laid outside the Bataclan.

"Hear our voices! We are here!" cried the demonstrators ahead of the 195-nation UN summit being held just outside Paris, which aims to strike the first truly global accord to limit greenhouse emissions and avert a global climate disaster. "For a climate of peace", read banners held by the protesters, while another said: "We need to take care, there is no planet B".

In emotional scenes and guarded by heavily armed police, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet visited the Bataclan memorial, met with a relative of one of the three Chilean victims and laid a large floral wreath.

But around two hours after the human chain dispersed, anti-capitalist militants who had gathered in the nearby Place de la Republique square that has become a rallying point for mourners after the attacks began to clash with police, AFP reporters said.

'Cathartic'

A group of militants wearing black hoods and scarves over their faces chanted "State of emergency, police state, you will not take away our right to protest", referring to the measures restricting demonstrations that were introduced after the attacks.

As objects were thrown, police in riot gear formed lines to push them back and the air was filled with teargas.

French authorities have had to strike a delicate balancing act for the climate demonstrations. Activists organised the human chain in place of a march that was banned for security reasons after the attacks.

Dozens of French climate activists have been placed under house arrest to prevent them from demonstrating in Paris, angering their lawyers who claim the state of emergency powers are being abused.

Genevieve Azam, spokeswoman for Attac, one of the groups which organised the demonstrations, described the human chain as cathartic.

"There was a lot of solemnity, dignity on the pavements. There was a powerful current that passed between people's hands," Azam told reporters. "It was a pleasure to be able to lift the lid that has weighed on French people since the attacks."

Aside from defying the attackers, protesters were determined to pressure world leaders who were arriving for the climate summit, which runs until Dec 11.

"I hope the leaders will finally find an agreement to stop climate change," said Janis Krisch, a 20-year-old student from Stuttgart in Germany. "I really do think that the global community realises that it must do something now," he said.

A French protester, retired university lecturer Jean-Pierre Raffin, joined the human chain wearing a beret and a Legion d'Honneur medal, France's highest honour. "I hope this time the conference will lead to something solid," he said. "Far too often, they have just met to organise another meeting."

Christine De Clercq, 67, said she had come from Ghent in Belgium to add her voice. "I would like schools to have an hour a week of lessons around the world so that the young understand the danger," she said.

Instead of marching, activists also left thousands of pairs of shoes on the ground in Place de la Republique. A pair of trainers was left by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, while Pope Francis also sent a pair of shoes.