PARIS — French authorities detained at least 150 people for questioning after a demonstration in favor of a global climate accord in central Paris turned into a violent clash between protesters and riot police.
Television images on Sunday showed demonstrators throwing projectiles at police who charged crowds and dragged people away near the Place de la Republique, a traditional rallying place for marches in the capital.
Earlier in the day, people forming a human chain called on more than 140 world leaders meeting in Paris for United Nations- sponsored talks to reach a global agreement to lower carbon emissions. France banned demonstrations as part of a state of emergency following the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks, and some environmental groups like Greenpeace have criticized the restrictions.
“No one was hurt,” Michel Cadot, the head of Paris police, said at a press conference broadcast by iTele television. “The demonstration turned a little violent, but it was kept under control. Police used restraint.”
Small, organized groups of masked protesters “were looking” for confrontation and threw bottles and other projectiles at police, Cadot said. A spokesman for the police put the number of detained at about 150 at 5 p.m. local time, even as the confrontation continued.
The Interior Ministry canceled a series of public demonstrations planned during the COP21 climate talks, which officially get under way Monday and will attract about 40,000 delegates and heads of state, including U.S. President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. In response to the attacks and the sheer size of the climate meeting taking place in Le Bourget near the capital, the government has closed some major roads around Paris until late Monday to help ease transport for the leaders.
In addition to the human chain, Parisians laid thousands of pairs of shoes on the Place de la Republique to symbolize the pro-climate-deal march that was banned. The government also placed about two dozen environmentalists deemed a risk to public order under effective house arrest, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Saturday.
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