Twelve police officers were injured on Saturday in clashes with demonstrators in the French province of Savoy, where a protest against a high-speed rail project in the Alps turned violent, authorities said.
About two thousand demonstrators gathered in the Moraine Valley to protest the construction of a railway, which includes the construction of a tunnel to link the French city of Lyon and the Italian city of Turin.
The head of the Savoy region, Francois Ravier, said in a press conference that the protesters threw stones at the riot police, which prompted the police to respond by firing tear gas, which caused the injury of one of the protesters.
He added that the security forces will remain in place throughout the night to prevent the situation from getting out of control.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanan revealed the number of injured policemen in a tweet on Twitter. Officials said border checks turned up 400 knives and hammers, while the security services returned 96 people known to them to Italy.