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Protestors clash with riot police as French politicians



Protestors clashed with riot police in France last night after gay marriage was legalised following months of fierce debate.


Within hours of the decision to allow gay couples to wed, a protest near Paris's Invalides complex of museums and monuments turned violent with officers working late into the night to restore calm.


Protestors pelted police with glass bottles, cans and metal bars, and officers responded by firing tear gas into the crowds.




Trouble: Security guards scuffle with anti gay marriage protestors as the practice was legalised by politicians in France yesterday





Violent protests: Demonstrators light flares and square up to riot police with the Eiffel Tower in the background following the decision yesterday





Prepared: Riot police guard the National Assembly yesterday as lawmakers decided to legalise gay marriage in France





Opposition: Those opposed to gay marriage converged on Concorde Square in Paris, but protests soon turned ugly

The issue appears to have galvanized the country's faltering right, which had been ripped apart recently by infighting and their election loss to President Francois Hollande.


France is the 14th country - and the largest - to legalise gay marriage.




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Justice minister Christiane Taubira said the first weddings could be as soon as June following the 331-225 vote in the Socialist majority National Assembly.

Opponents of the law say France is not ready to legalise adoption for same-sex couples, and polls show a country sharply divided on the issue.



Victory: Pro gay marriage protestors wave rainbow flags as the news breaks that politicians had voted in favour of gay marriage





Celebrations: Those in favour of gay marriage celebrate the decision in Paris yesterday



Victory: French prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault congratulates family minister Dominique Bertinotti, right, as justice minister Christiane Taubira, left, looks on, after lawmakers approved a bill legalising same-sex marriage



Mr Ayrault celebrates with Mrs Taubira: She said the the first weddings could be as soon as June after the 331-225 vote in the Socialist majority National Assembly which passed the new law yesterday afternoon

Thousands of police mobilised ahead of the vote, taking up positions with water cannon outside the French parliament, preparing for duelling protests around the National Assembly building and along the Seine River.

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.'


She said: '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 mum and a dad.'


France is the 14th country to legalise gay marriage, and today's vote comes a week after New Zealand - with very little controversy - allowed same-sex couples to wed.

The extraordinary security was put in place to protect the National Assembly in Paris following large and at times violent protests in the months leading up to this afternoon's vote.






Mrs Taubira and interior minister Manuel Valls address members of parliament: Opponentssay France is not ready to legalise adoption for same-sex couples, and polls show a country sharply divided on the issue


In recent weeks, violent attacks against gay couples have spiked and some legislators have received threats - including one sent a gunpowder-filled envelope.

One protest against gay marriage ended in clouds of tear gas earlier this month with some demonstrators fighting police and damaging cars along the Champs-Elysees avenue.

But while some were outraged at the passing of the new law, others took to the streets to celebrate.

'I feel immense joy, gigantic joy,' said 39-year old Sylvain Rouzel.


'At last, everyone has the same rights. This is huge. France was lagging behind. We had to wait 14 years after the civil union to finally obtain the right to get married, with equal rights for everyone. I feel great.'

Paris' openly gay mayor, Bertrand Delanoe, was among the crowd of hundreds gathered for the street celebration in the Marais, the city's historic gay neighborhood.


The highly controversial new law also makes it legal for gays and lesbians to adopt children, and ban the words 'mother' and 'father' from all official documents.

The new law had been expected pass comfortably in the Socialist-controlled legislature.



Demonstrators against gay marriage face riot police in Paris on Sunday: Riot police were deployed outside the French parliament today as lawmakers prepared to vote to make it the 14th country to legalise gay marriage



Anger: The extraordinary security was put in place to protect the National Assembly following large and at times violent protests by those who oppose legalisation in the months leading up to this afternoon's vote

When President Francois Hollande initially promised to legalise gay marriage, it was seen as relatively uncontroversial.

But the issue rejuvenated the country's conservative movement and brought together the far right, the Catholic Church and many French families from the countryside.

It had even sparked physical scuffles between right and left wing MPs during debates in the National Assembly.


Unpopular: The change in law promised by Francois Hollande (pictured) has brought together the far right, the Catholic Church and many rural French

The new law states that 'marriage is a union of two people, of different or the same gender', and it swaps all references in the civil code to 'mothers and fathers' to simply 'parents'.

Now it has passed, opposition parties have pledged to challenge the law in France's highest court, the Constitutional Council.

And if that fails, they hope public hostility will pressurise Mr Hollande into not signing it into law, just as former president Jacques Chirac backed down from signing an employment law that was voted by parliament in 2006.

Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, head of the French Catholic Church, was also leading his own campaign to stop the law, warning followers that gay marriage could lead to legalised incest and polygamy in society.

He told the Christian's RFC radio station: 'Gay marriage would herald a complete breakdown in society.

'This could have innumerable consequences. Afterward they will want to create couples with three or four members. And after that, perhaps one day the taboo of incest will fall.'

Legalising gay marriage was one of Mr Hollande's key manifesto pledges, but less than a year later, observers say he has been surprised by the scale of public opposition to the measure.

There has also a been a sharp rise in the number of homophobic attacks in recent weeks, and several initially peaceful protests have degenerated into violence.

The law also comes amid a poll showing Mr Hollande has become the most unpopular president in five decades - with a personal approval rating of just 25 per cent.



No to homophobia: Pro-gay marriage protesters at a counter demonstration also held on Sunday. The new law will also allow gays and lesbians to adopt and ban the words 'mother' and 'father' from official documents





Divisive issue: Although President Hollande's Socialist party is expected to carry this afternoon's vote by a two-thirds majority, polls show half of the French population are opposed to gay marriage

His first 11 months in office have been blighted by a catalogue of political, economic and personal crises as he finds himself unable to control either the public finances or the wayward antics of First Lady Valerie Trierweiler.


'In the face of such fierce opposition to so many of his other policies, Hollande will be a brave man to sign gay marriage into law'
French political observer Thierry Kutlay


Millionaires have been fleeing France in fear of a proposed 75 per cent tax on all earnings over one million euros.

The French equivalent of the UK's Confederation of British Industry, called MEDEF, has warned the president that France risked becoming 'the poor man of Europe' over his 'disastrous' economic policies.

And his problems then culminated this month with revelations his own budget minister Jerome Cahuzac had been hiding up to €20million in a secret bank account to dodge taxes.

Political observer Thierry Kutlay said: 'I don't think he ever thought running France would be so hard. In the face of such fierce opposition to so many of his other policies, he will be a brave man to sign gay marriage into law.'

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