Iran Advises France to Avoid Violence against Protesters
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry called on the French government to refrain from violence against protesters and listen to their voices.
“The violent crackdown by the French police on citizens and workers who were holding protests on May Day is deeply regrettable,” Nasser Kanaani said in a post on his Twitter account on Tuesday.
“We still advise the French government to listen to the voices of the protesters and avoid resorting to violence against them,” he added.
The French riot police fired tear gas to disperse protesters in Paris and other major cities of France on the first day of May as public anger raged over President Emmanuel Macron’s unpopular pension reform.
Media reports said police had detained a total of 291 people nationwide during massive French Labor Day demonstrations on Monday, 111 of whom were arrested in Paris.
According to France’s Interior Ministry, some 782,000 people protested across France on Monday for May Day in a new show of anger against Macron's contentious pension reform, including 112,000 in Paris alone, Press TV reported.