This year’s May Day festivities in France were even more of a fun and frolic-filled affair than usual.

Many thanks to Gary Fouse for translating this article from Le Figaro:

May 1st demonstrations: 540 arrests and 406 police and gendarmes injured, Gerald Darmanin announces

The Interior Minister returned Tuesday to the violence that punctuated the mobilizations across France against the pension reforms.

At least 540 people were arrested Monday during demonstrations across France against pension reform. In addition, 406 police and gendarmes were injured, according to a new report provided by the Minister of Interior, Gerald Darmanin. In the capital, 259 police officers were injured, he stated on BFMTV.

“There must be the strongest criminal sanctions against those who attack the police,” he added, calling for an “anti-thug law”. Among the injured police and gendarmes, “three are in an extremely difficult situation, even if their prognosis is not life-threatening,” the minister noted. The police officer struck by a Molotov cocktail in the Paris demonstration “was burned on the face, and he is still hospitalized,” he added.

61 demonstrators injured

“Where is the condemnation of Jean-Luc Melenchon against the attack on this police officer?” Gerald Darmanin then exclaimed, and in taking several shots at the leader of France Insoumise, accused him of not sufficiently condemning the violence. “His silence makes him an accomplice,” he further asserted.

On the demonstrators’ side, “61 were injured in all of France, 31 of whom were in Paris,” Gerald Darmanin then added. “There was a level of violence in the pre-march among the thugs, the “ultra” individuals who greatly surpassed the level of violence seen during the last 12 demonstrations,” claimed the prefect of Paris.

Laurent Nuñez also welcomed the use of drones during the demonstration which allowed them to determine the presence “within the pre-march, of four suspicious, violent black blocs.” The use of drones by police during the Paris procession on May 1, decided on by the prefecture of police in the wake of a recent decree, had been authorized by the Administrative Tribunal of Paris after the rejection of an appeal brought by organizations for the defense of liberties.