French police arrested 217 people on Thursday night during incidents that followed a demonstration in Paris as part of ongoing mass protests against the pension reform that was finally decided to be implemented without a vote in the lower house, media reported.

According to France Info, 217 people were arrested in the incidents that broke out in the Place de la Concorde, in the center of the French capital.

According to the same source, police riot units used tear gas and pressurized water cannons to clear the square. Some of the protesters set fires and threw objects at police officers.

When the incidents broke out, there were about 6,000 people in the square, according to French media estimates.

On Thursday afternoon, the government decided at the last minute to implement the pension bill, which would raise the retirement age from 62 to 64, bypassing the lower house, as it was unclear whether the necessary majority was in place. .

There is an article of the French Constitution (49, § 3) that allows this path to be followed. But the reform could be overturned in the event of a vote of no confidence in the government of President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Elisabeth Bourne.

Demonstrations were organized yesterday in many other French cities (Marseille, Dijon, Nantes, Rennes, Rouen, Grenoble, Toulouse, Nice). The unions are calling for a new national strike next Thursday and mass mobilizations from the weekend. Millions of French people have repeatedly taken to the streets against the reform.

Interior Minister Gérald Darmamin ordered police to take “reinforced protection measures” for members of the French parliament.