109 in custody after Paris May Day violence: Police

Paris - French police warned of possible clashes with far-left anarchist groups.

French police said 109 people were in custody on Wednesday after violent May Day protests in Paris, correcting an earlier figure of 209 given by Interior Minister Gerard Collomb.

Hooded youths had torched a McDonald's restaurant and several vehicles after joining the traditional May 1 union-led demonstration for workers' rights.
French police warned on Monday of possible clashes with far-left anarchist groups, known as Black Blocs, after a call on social media for a "Revolutionary Day".
Authorities said some 1,200 hooded and masked protesters had turned up on the sidelines of Tuesday's planned demonstration by labour unions.
Images also showed the smashed windows of a Renault garage on a road near the Austerlitz station and a construction vehicle in flames.
The protesters moved towards riot police chanting anti-fascist slogans, waving Soviet flags and anti-government banners and throwing firecrackers. Some started to build barricades. The police used water cannon against some of the protesters.
President Emmanuel Macron, elected last May on a promise to shake up France's creaking economy and spur jobs growth, is locked in a battle with the trade unions over his plans to liberalise labour regulations.
Railway staff have begun three months of nationwide rolling strikes in a dispute over the government's planned overhaul of state-run railway SNCF.