PARIS (AP) ‐ French police clashed with stone-throwing protesters who set fires and smashed up vehicles as thousands of people gathered for May Day rallies Wednesday under tight security. About 165 arrests were made.Police repeatedly used tear gas to try to control the crowd gathering near Paris’ Montparnasse train station for the main protest. It wasn’t immediately clear how many people were injured. One bandaged-up man with a head wound was helped away from the scene by paramedics.
Associated Press reporters saw groups of hooded, black-clad people shouting anti-police slogans, mixing with other protesters wearing yellow vests or waving union flags.
Some threw rocks and other objects at police officers, attacked a parked van in a nearby street, kicking the vehicle and breaking its windows.
Paris police said officers carried out more than 9,000 "preventive searches" of bags and arrested 165 people before the march.
Meanwhile, some peaceful protesters were waiting for the march to start. They were planning to head toward Place d’Italie in southern Paris.
French authorities have warned "radical activists" may join the Paris demonstration and renew scenes of violence that marked previous yellow vest protests and May Day demonstrations in the past two years.
More than 7,400 police are deployed in the French capital.