Thirteen French police officers and gendarmes were hurt in Saturday’s protests against the planned visit by presidential candidate Marine Le Pen to the western city of Nantes, police said, Sputnik reported.
Demonstrators hurled projectiles and Molotov cocktails at law enforcement forces, who responded by firing tear gas. Four protesters were detained, according to Nantes police feed on Twitter.
Some 2,200 demonstrators are estimated to have gathered in central Nantes to protest against Le Pen, who is coming for a campaign rally ahead of this spring’s presidential election.
Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right National Front (FN) party, is projected to win the first round of voting in two months and make it into the runoff in May where she is likely to face independent Emmanuel Macron or his conservative runner-up Francois Fillon, who both saw their poll ratings decline this week.