French police arrest 210 at Tamils protest in Paris
Tamils protested against Sri Lankan govt in Paris.
French police arrested 210 people as a demonstration in central Paris by Tamils angry at the situation in Sri Lanka turned violent.
"French people, react", "Sarkozy, help us" chanted several hundred demonstrators as they gathered near the Gare du Nord train station for the protest on Monday, which had not been declared to the authorities.
The demonstration quickly turned violent as protestors began turning over bins and throwing bottles at police.
One policeman was among four people injured, said the authorities, who held 164 of the 210 people initially detained for further questioning.
The windscreens of three buses, two cars and a lorry were smashed and a scooter set on fire, according to journalists at the scene.
Police said the demonstrators might be charged with belonging to an "armed gathering" as the bottles they threw could be considered weapons.
Last week the Sri Lankan government sacked Norway as the island's peace broker, officially turning the page on a decade of internationally backed efforts to end a war that has cost an estimated 70,000 lives.
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels have retreated into a 20-square kilometre area that the government had designated as a "safe zone" for beleaguered civilians. Remnants of the rebel army are still resisting.
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