Parisian police set on fire as millions take to the streets in protest

Protesters torched roads in Paris with burning containers as police struggled to contain the chaos with dozens of officers injured across the country

Police officers were injured in clashes with demonstrators (

Image: AP)

Fires broke out in the streets of Paris during violent clashes over pension reform, leaving dozens of police officers injured across the country.

Protesters showed their anger at French President Emmanuel Macron's unpopular pension policy on May Day.

French police have charged radical protesters and troublemakers who smashed bank and shop windows and set fires as unions pushed for the president to scrap the retirement age.

Bank windows and bus stops were smashed, bicycles set on fire and cops were also hit by objects after Macron raised the retirement age from 62 to 64 last month .

Footage also showed a police officer lying injured on a burning road in the French capital.

People protested against pension reforms (

Picture:

ISA HARSIN/SIPA/REX/Shutterstock)

French police deployed drones to film the unrest. A police officer in Paris was seriously injured by a Molotov cocktail, and 19 others were hospitalized, among 108 police officers injured across France, authorities said. It is not known how many protesters were potentially injured.

Clashes also marked protests in Lyon and Nantes.

"Violence is growing stronger in a society that is becoming more radicalized", declared the Minister of the Interior on the news channel BFM-TV, accusing the ultra-left. He said some 2,000 radicals were at the Paris march.