Up to 200,000 expected to take part in demonstration as France becomes 14th country to legalise same-sex marriage

This article is more than 7 years old

This article is more than 7 years old

Over 150,000 protesters gathered in Paris on Sunday at a final mass street demonstration against same-sex marriage before the first wedding ceremony takes place next week.

But after nightfall when the protest had mostly dispersed, clashes erupted at Les Invalides in central Paris between about 100 hardliners wielding sticks and bottles and riot-police firing teargas.

The interior ministry said before those clashes 96 arrests had been made on the edges of the day's demonstrations, including of far-right militants.

Earlier, riot police evicted about a dozen far-right activists who used ladders to climb on to a roof of the Socialist party headquarters and unfurled a banner that said: "Hollande resign."

The night before the demonstration, 50 people had been arrested after chaining themselves to metal barriers they placed in the middle of the busy Champs Elysees and firing smoke canisters. A van carrying masks, banners and smoke bombs was seized by police.

The new law – the key social reform of the Socialist president, François Hollande – was officially adopted last week, making France the 14th country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage. The first wedding will take place between two gay activists in Montpellier on Wednesday.

But the reform sparked months of bitter political debate and the biggest rightwing street demonstrations in decades, including hundreds of arrests after clashes between police and demonstrators in the runup to the parliamentary vote. Rights groups have recorded a sharp increase in homophobic acts across France.

Protesters from the anti-same-sex marriage movement converged in their thousands at Les Invalides, while a more hardline demonstration led by Catholic traditionalists gathered near l'Opéra. Nationalist youth groups attended the latter demonstration, with one calling for a "national revolution".

Among the crowds, one demonstrator led a donkey carrying a placard: "I'm an ass, I voted Hollande."

Divisions over the law continue to cause tensions on the French right, with the government warning of a resurgence in far-right groups and a small number of "ultras" on the fringes.

The most radical protesters have grouped together under the banner Printemps Français (French Spring), a loose grouping of traditionalists and far-right associations, which the French interior ministry last week threatened to outlaw.

Tensions were exacerbated by the suicide last Tuesday of a far-right essayist, Dominique Venner, who shot himself at the altar of Notre Dame cathedral after leaving a blogpost railing against immigration and the "vile" law on same-sex marriage.

The comedian Virginie Tellene, known by her stage name Frigide Barjot, who has led the anti-gay marriage movement and been its figurehead, did not attend the demonstration in order to defend what she called "peace and freedom of expression". She is under police protection having complained of death threats and pressure from the extreme rightwing.

Anti-gay marriage activist Virginie Tellene, aka Frigide Barjot, welcomes protesters at the Gare de Lyon. Barjot herself is not taking part in the demonstration. Photograph: Thomas Samson/AFP/Getty Images

Jean-François Copé, leader of the rightwing UMP party, keen to capitalise on the protest movement in the runup to next year's local elections, attended the demonstration in Paris after other key figures in his party, including the former foreign minister Alain Juppé, had warned against it.

The prime minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, attacked UMP politicians for supporting the demonstration, warning that they were taking "a heavy responsibility" in "sparking tension and radicalisation".

Christian Jacob, head of the UMP group in parliament, who was at the rally, said: "Even though the law has been voted in, it doesn't mean we can't contest it."