France investigates ‘attempted murder’ after protesters threw Molotov cocktails

France, which is responding strongly to violent protests, is investigating the throwing of a Molotov cocktail at security guards during a protest in Paris on the 31st of last month (local time) as a case of attempted murder.

According to AFP, the Paris Prosecutor's Office announced on the 1st that "an explosive device was thrown at 15 police officers and military police" and that it had begun an investigation into "an attempted murder of a person in public power."

According to the Paris police, hundreds of people were found to have thrown objects, including Molotov cocktails, at the police and military police, the soldiers in charge of security, during the previous day's protest.

The day before, media footage reported a shocking scene in eastern Paris in which an improvised device exploded at the feet of a military police officer and the policeman's lower body caught fire in an instant.

Prosecutors said the extent of the military police officer's injuries are still being assessed. At the same time, it was reported that injuries from this protest included second-degree burns.

In an anonymous interview with local RTL, this military policeman said that many objects, including glass bottles, stones, glass fragments, and Molotov cocktails, were rained down on his unit, and expressed the pain he felt at the time, saying, "I could feel the flammable substances spreading to my skin. I felt like my whole body was being engulfed in heat."

In France, where large-scale student, union, and civic group protests took place for the third weekend the previous day, 320,000 people took to the streets. This is a decrease from the 550,000 people on the 17th of last month, when the first weekend protest took place, and the 410,000 people on the 24th of the same month.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said the protests went well overall, but criticized "unprecedented violence" toward the end.

The French Interior Ministry said that 779 people were arrested during the protests. The number of injured security personnel, including police officers, was counted at 159.

The number of arrests on this day was a significant decrease compared to the 24th (1,314 people) and 17th (2,628 people) of last month.

The number of stores damaged by vandalism and looting also decreased. According to the French Chamber of Commerce, about 20 stores were damaged.

Marine Le Pen of the far-right National Coalition (RN), a leading presidential candidate, called on X (old Twitter) to severely punish those responsible for the Molotov cocktail attack.