Earlier in the day, there appeared to be more police than protesters outside the Parliament building on Paris' Left Bank,
but that calculation soon shifted as night fell and thousands gathered
to protest the bill. The protest dwindled to a few stalwarts shortly
before midnight, when the violence began among a few hundred
demonstrators including some who carried signs saying
"Socialist dictatorship."
Claire Baron, 41, a mother of two, said that she "will oppose the bill until the end."
"I'll
keep going to the protests, I don't give in. The bill is not effective
yet, the president of the Republic must listen to our voices. We are
here to defend family values. Children need a mom and a dad,"
Baron said.
In
recent weeks, violent attacks against gay couples have spiked and some
legislators have received threats — including Claude Bartelone, the
Assembly president, who got a gunpowder-filled envelope on Monday.
One
of the biggest protests against same-sex marriage drew together
hundreds of thousands of people bused in from the French provinces —
conservative activists, schoolchildren with their parents, retirees,
priests and others. That demonstration ended in blasts of tear gas, as
right-wing rabble-rousers, some in masks and hoods, led the charge
against police, damaging cars along the Champs-Elysees avenue and making
a break for the presidential palace.
From Times Union: 
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