May Day Rally in Paris: Socialist Party (PS) Elected Officials and Activists Targeted by Hooded Protesters, Case Referred to the Court

"We were insulted and then attacked by black blocs," denounced Socialist Party spokesperson Chloé Ridel. Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau reported four minor injuries.

The Socialist Party stand was targeted by individuals dressed in black, some of them hooded, on Thursday, May 1st, during the traditional May Day parade in Paris , several party officials denounced. "The Socialists were holding a festive stand on Boulevard de l'Hôpital in Paris. We were insulted and then attacked by black blocs: they tore down our flags and banners, kicked, punched, and threw firecrackers ," PS spokesperson Chloé Ridel said on X. A comrade was dragged and lynched on the ground, another elected official was injured."

Today, at the May Day demonstration, socialists held a festive stand on Boulevard de l'Hôpital in Paris. We were insulted and then attacked by black bloc protesters: they tore down our flags and banners, kicked, punched, and… https://t.co/RzTyspcdbQ

— Chloé Ridel (@ChloeRidel) May 1, 2025

On franceinfo, the head of the Socialist Party, Olivier Faure, announced that the party had filed a complaint and that it would "not let anything go." "Serious and unacceptable violence . These troublemakers are the enemies of workers and the left," assured the president of the Socialist Party group in the National Assembly, Boris Vallaud, on X , adding that he would contact the public prosecutor. "One person was taken into custody after the acts committed near the Socialist Party stand (mortar fire, damage and violence)," the Paris prosecutor's office announced on Thursday evening.

According to the police headquarters, "the incident" took place "a little before 3 p.m., on Boulevard de l'Hôpital ." The police intervened to "restore calm" after "elected officials were attacked near the premises of a political party." On X , Bruno Retailleau stated that the police "made arrests." The Minister of the Interior gave his "support to the attacked activists ," denouncing "the political violence that the far left is trying to establish" in France. He then reported on BFMTV that socialist MP Jérôme Guedj suffered a minor foot injury and that three socialist activists were slightly injured "by tinnitus" or "burns" due to "firecrackers" being thrown at them. On BFMTV , Jérôme Guedj then reported that only one activist was "injured" and others were "shocked" .

According to a franceinfo reporter who was present at the procession, Socialist elected official Jérôme Guedj was insulted as he passed by the procession of the National Confederation of Labor (CNT, revolutionary syndicalism). "A first virulent group gave us the finger, insulted us as 'traitors' while chanting 'everyone hates the PS', " he told AFP. "Then 20-30 people dressed in black, like black blocs, arrived and made contact. They hit people and led a charge, throwing several agricultural bombs," he continued. "These people turned towards me a lot to insult me," he added. " The brainless, pseudo-antifa, black-hooded morons have arrived. Insults, spitting, and finally punches and mortars," he summed up on X.

Jérôme Guedj told AFP that he had not heard any anti-Semitic insults directed at him during the attacks, unlike other socialist leaders. "Activists who claim to be from the left, the far left (....) first started insulting us as 'dirty Zionists,' 'genocidaires,' 'traitors,' these are words that were uttered. They insulted all socialists," said socialist MEP Emma Rafowicz, a regular victim of anti-Semitic insults, on BFMTV.

"Jérôme Guedj himself has once again been the target of anti-Semitic insults," said the head of the Paris Socialist Federation, Lamia El Aaraje. On BFMTV, the mayor of Rouen, Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, a candidate for the leadership of the party, stated that Jérôme Guedj had been "attacked because he is a socialist and because he is Jewish."

Asked on RTL about the possibility of "far-left anti-Semitism," the national secretary of the Ecologists, Marine Tondelier, refused to answer the question, saying she was "annoyed." While offering her "support" to Jérôme Guedj, she suggested that the socialist MP had not been "careful" by going to the demonstration surrounded by numerous journalists. "Your comments reinforce this nauseating climate," retorted PS senator Patrick Kanner, on X , demanding regrets or apologies, in unison with other socialist elected officials.