A demonstrator kicks a tear gas canister during clashes with riot police after the cancellation of a planned climate march following shootings in the French capital, ahead of the World Climate Change Conference. (Reuters photo)
French riot police fired tear gas at
climate change protesters at the Place de la Republique in central Paris today, near where climate change activists had earlier formed a human chain.
About two hundred protesters, some wearing masks, fought with police on a street leading to the square, which has become a gathering place for Parisiens since the attacks in the capital on November 13 that killed 130 people.
Police fired gas at some demonstrators as they tried to reach the square and used tear gas to disperse others. Demonstrators carried banners calling for the defence of the climate and democracy.
A march planned for Sunday in Paris ahead of the UN
climate change summit taking place at Le Bourget outside the capital was banned by police under the state of emergency rules imposed after the November 13 attacks which were claimed by ISIS terrorists.
Using the state of emergency rules, police put 24 green activists under house arrest ahead of the summit saying they were suspected of planning violent protests.
© Thomson Reuters 2015