Low turnout for May Day protests

BETWEEN 100,000 and 210,000 demonstrators took to the streets of France yesterday for the annual May Day protest marches.

While the turnout may have been lower than organisers had been hoping, unions expect a strong presence on May 15, when a public service strike is set to take place.

In Paris yesterday, members of the CGT, FSU and Solidarity unions marched together in protest over the policies of the new Prime Minister Manuel Valls’ government. The CGT said that 65,000 took part in the march. According to police, the figure was 15,500.

Far-left leaders Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Pierre Laurent were among the high-profile figures taking part in the parades.

Across France, 100,000 people took part in marches, the Interior Ministry said. The CGT claimed the figure was 210,000.

Femen activists briefly disrupted the Front National’s Paris demonstration, where with European elections looming, Marine Le Pen took to the stand to attack both the French government and the EU.

At the start of the march, two women stripped to the waist, revealing anti-FN messages on their chests, and yelled anti-fascist slogans before being led away by police.

A third Femen protester tried to interrupt Ms Le Pen’s speech at Opera Square a short while later. According to the Front National, 20,000 people took part in the demonstration. Police said 5,300.

The Front National is among a number of anti-EU parties forecast to do well in the upcoming European elections.

Recent polls suggest both Ms Le Pen’s party and the UMP are neck and neck, well ahead of President Francois Hollande’s Socialists