France: Protests After Macron's Re-Election, Riot Police Use Teargas

Macron defeated far-right leader Marine Le Pen in a runoff vote by winning a second five-year term.

Leigh Thomas

Macron defeated far-right leader Marine Le Pen in a runoff vote by winning a second five-year term.

france protests after macron s re election riot police use teargas

People attend a demonstration after the announcement of the results of the 2022 French presidential election at Place de la Republique in Paris, France, April 24, 2022. Photo: Reuters/Piroschka Van De Wouw

Paris: Riot police charged and sprayed teargas on demonstrators in central Paris protesting after President Emmanuel Macron was elected on Sunday, April 24, footage from social media showed.

Police sought to break up a crowd of mostly young people who had gathered in the central neighbourhood of Chatelet to protest, images on Twitter showed.

Macron defeated far-right leader Marine Le Pen in a runoff vote earlier on Sunday by winning a second five-year term and preventing what would otherwise have been a major political upset.

Also Read: The Key Poll Issues in France’s Upcoming Presidential Election

Although Macron won by a comfortable margin, the abstention rate was expected to settle at the highest since 1969, with a substantial chunk of voters unwilling to vote for either Macron or Le Pen.

Between the first round of voting and Sunday's runoff, students protested outside the Sorbonne in Paris and other universities, expressing their disillusionment with the choice on offer.

(Reuters)

This article went live on April twenty-fifth, two thousand twenty two, at two minutes past one in the afternoon.

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