Arrests, injuries as French protesters challenge Macron

Damien Meyer | AFP | Getty Images

Police use water cannons and tear gas to clear protesters during a demonstration in support of the Notre-Dame-des-Landes ZAD (Zone a Defendre – Zone to defend) anti-airport camp on April 14, 2018, in Nantes, western France.

French authorities say 63 people have been arrested and nine police officers injured as protests took place in two cities amid simmering anger at President Emmanuel Macron’s labor law changes.

Interior Minister Gerard Collomb denounced the violence and damage to stores and public buildings at the edges of Saturday’s protests in Nantes in western France and Montpellier in the south.

Collomb called for calm as another protest is planned Sunday at Notre-Dame-des-Landes in western France.

Other protests Saturday around France were largely peaceful. Train workers were marching during on-and-off strikes over Macron’s railway labor reform plan, strikes that have disrupted traffic nationwide.

Macron is going on national television Sunday night to explain his reforms to the French economy. He says he’s making the country more competitive globally while workers fear losing job protections.