French protests: King's visit safe despite protests, says Paris

French officials say they are extremely focused on King Charles III's first state visit on Sunday, despite violence at protests in several cities.

Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said there were "no known threats".

The King is due to visit Paris and Bordeaux, where the entrance to the town hall was set alight on Thursday.

Mayor Pierre Hurmic said the trip had been adapted so it "can go ahead under the best security, so as not to expose the King to the slightest difficulty".

The trip, which begins on Sunday, is due to include a ride along the Champs-Elysées in the heart of Paris and a banquet at Versailles with President Emmanuel Macron.

It will culminate in a visit to Bordeaux on Tuesday - coinciding with the 10th nationwide protest planned by unions against the Macron government's move to increase the pension age from 62 to 64 and to prolong the number of years of contributions.

The mayor told France Info radio the city was "very motivated" to welcome King Charles and French authorities had been working with the UK embassy. He did not say which measures had been adapted, but the King is not expected to travel by tram in Bordeaux as originally planned.

"The final decision is not up to the mayor of Bordeaux and I imagine we'll be in touch with the British authorities and the prefecture on the subject of the visit," Mr Hurmic said.

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The ninth day of protests on Thursday attracted more than a million people, according to the French interior ministry, although the unions put the number at 3.5 million.

Some 300 marches went ahead peacefully, but some protests were marred by some of the worst scenes of violence since demonstrations began in January.

Mr Darmanin said 457 arrests were made across France and 441 members of the security forces were injured. There were also dozens of injuries among protesters hit by stun grenades fired by riot police in several cities. In Rouen, a woman was hit in the hand and lost her thumb.

Much of the violence took place on the sidelines of some of the marches, in Paris and other cities including Bordeaux, and the interior minister said 903 fires were lit on the streets of the capital alone.

One police officer who lost consciousness had to be dragged to safety after appearing to be struck on the head.

It was not clear who set the historic 18th-Century door of Bordeaux town hall on fire, although it was put out by firefighters after several minutes.

"I'm extremely saddened, shocked and angry that anyone could attack the town hall, the home of all of Bordeaux," said the mayor, who had left the building only minutes earlier. He vowed public services would resume there on Friday morning as normal.

In Paris, generally peaceful demonstrations were disrupted by occasional clashes between police and masked rioters who smashed shop windows, attacked a McDonald's restaurant and set a kiosk alight.

Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne tweeted: "Demonstrating and voicing disagreements is a right. The violence and degradation we have witnessed today is unacceptable. All my gratitude to the police and rescue forces mobilised."

Firefighters on strike could be seen on the roof of one building in Paris during Thursday's protests

Protesters appeared galvanised by a TV interview given the day before by the president, after his government had used a constitutional power called 49:3 to force through the pension reform without a final vote in the National Assembly. Mr Macron said the reforms were an economic necessity, and he was prepared to accept the resulting unpopularity.

"I listened to Macron yesterday and it was as if someone was spitting in our face," said Adèle, a 19-year-old law student in Nanterre. "For this pension reform, there is another way and if he doesn't do that, it's because he's not listening to the people. There's a clear lack of democracy," she told the BBC.

"We will come out until he removes the pension reform," warned firefighter Christophe Marin. "We were getting a little demotivated, but the announcement of the 49.3 mobilised the French people - and us too."

The unrest also disrupted train travel and saw teachers and workers at Paris's Charles de Gaulle Airport walk out of work. Blockades of oil refineries and depots have begun to affect fuel supplies, and Le Figaro website said that by Thursday almost 15% of petrol stations had run out of either petrol or diesel.

Unions and the political left believe the latest day of strikes was a success, but where the situation goes from here is an open question.

President Macron was in Brussels for an EU summit as the protests unfolded. The government is hoping they will lose momentum, and that Thursday's violence will put people off.

But the opposition says the protests will not dwindle, and Parisian refuse collectors, who started their strike against the pension reform on 6 March, have renewed it until next Monday.

For more than two weeks bins have been left overflowing in many districts in Paris, and the capital does not look its best ahead of King Charles' trip.

Left-wing politicians have objected to the timing of the state visit, with Jean-Luc Mélenchon assessing it is "not the right moment".

Green MP Sandrine Rousseau called for it to be cancelled, questioning the location of the royal banquet. "Is it really the priority to receive Charles III at Versailles? Surely not," she said on Wednesday.

British royalty has often been feted by French leaders at the palace of Versailles since the Revolution in 1789.

Queen Victoria was welcomed there in 1855 and even waltzed with Napoleon III. George VI visited before World War Two and Elizabeth II paid her first visit as queen there in 1952.

Additional reporting by Marianne Baisnée.