French police arrested nearly 300 protesters ? more than half of them in Paris ? as the labor demonstrations in that country turned violent. Police and protesters traded tear gas for stones, while some seemingly apolitical thieves attempted to use the chaos to cover a burglary at a jewelry store. Leaders of the protest decried the violence, which law enforcement official ascribed to fringe radicals and anarchists; no major conflicts were reported later that night.
See "French Police Detain 300 Labor Protesters", John Leicester, San Francisco Chronicle, March 16, 2006