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Shoes stand in silent protest at Paris climate conference

A long-planned climate march in Paris ahead of this week's UN conference was cancelled due to security fears, but thousands of activists and protesters ignored the ban Sunday, leading to violent clashes with French police.

More than 20,000 pairs of shoes laid out in the Place de la Rpublique as part of symbolic rally

CBC News Posted: Nov 29, 2015 2:15 PM EST | Last Updated: November 30, 2015

A banner which reads 'Global Climate March' is displayed in front of pairs of shoes symbolically placed on the Place de la Rpublique on Sunday. Thousands of activists took to the streets of Paris ahead of climate summit, despite a ban on public demonstrations following the Nov. 13 attacks. (Eric Gaillard/Reuters )

Protesters place hundreds of pairs of shoes at Place de la Rpublique

Parisiansdropped off their footwearin thePlace de laRpubliqueas part of a symbolic and peaceful rally called by the NGOAvaaz.

The Place de la Republique is covered with hundreds of pairs of shoes ahead of the UN climate summit in Paris, Nov. 29. (Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty )

A man walks among hundreds of pairs of shoes at Place de la Rpublique. (Laurent Cipriani/Associated Press)

Among the mix of flips flops, winter boots andhigh heels wasfootwear from notable activists including PopeFrancis'sformal black shoes, running shoes from UN chiefBanKi-moonand high heels from designerVivienneWestwood.

Pope Francis's shoes are among hundreds of pairs in Paris. (Laurent Cipriani/Associated Press)

Long-planned climatemarch in Paris ahead of this week's UN conferencewas cancelled due to security fears.

There isa ban on public demonstrations in Paris in the wake of the Nov.13attacks, butthousands of activists and protestersdecided to ignore it on Sunday. Manyformed a human chain along the route of theplanned climate march.

Protesters linked arms together in solidarity for climate action. A couple in the linked chain kissed in front of riot police officers. (Thibault Camus/Associated Press)

Several of the protesters in the human chain donned clown costumes. (Benoit Tessier/Reuters)

But the unauthorized Paris demonstration turned violent.

The protest turned into a clash betweenFrench police and activists gathered in the streets of Paris. Michel Cadot, the Paris police chief,told reporters that police identified 200 to300 people who violated a ban on all protests under the country's state of emergency.

Cadot said about 100demonstrators were detained for peltingsecurity forces with glass bottles and even some of thecandles thatwere placed at Place de la Rpublique to honour victims of the attacks.

Riot policemen spray demonstrators near the Place de la Rpublique after the cancellation of a planned climate march in Paris on Sunday. (Eric Gaillard/Reuters)

Riot police arrest an activist during Sunday's climate protests in Paris. The city's police chief told reporters 100 protesters were detained. (Thibault Camus/Associated Press)

Paris police set off many rounds of tear gas todisperse the crowd.

The CBC'sNahlah Ayedis in Paris covering the conference and gave an update on the situation at Place de laRpublique.

Tear gas at Paris climate change protest

9 years ago

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CBC's Nahlah Ayed says police and climate change protesters have clashed at Place de la Republique

Many climate-related marches went off without a hitch in other cities.

In Canada, thousands gathered indowntown Ottawa forThe 100% Possible climate march, organized by a local environmental advocacy group. Other large Canadian demonstrations were held in Halifax and Vancouver.