Thibauld Malterre / AFP | A police car burns after being set on fire during a counter-demonstration against police violence on May 18, 2016 in Paris, as police across France demonstrate against ‘anti-cop hatred’.

A rare rally of police officers against "anti-cop hatred" in France descended into violence Wednesday as counter-demonstrators forced two policemen out of a car and torched it.

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Police were demonstrating across France against violence suffered at the hands of anti-government protesters in recent months.

France has been gripped by a wave of furious protests and strikes against reforms proposed by the deeply unpopular government of President Francois Hollande, many of which have erupted into violence.

Police say their resources are dangerously stretched as they oversee stepped-up security measures following last year's Islamist attacks and try to ensure safety at increasingly violent protests.

And Wednesday's police demo also turned violent as protesters smashed a police vehicle with iron bars, forcing the two officers inside to flee the car, before hurling a petrol bomb into it, an AFP journalist reported.

Prosecutors have opened an investigation for attempted murder.

Quai de Valmy, une voiture de policiers en feu. #ManifPolice pic.twitter.com/ApRDoeNkFZ — Sihame Assbague (@s_assbague) 18 May 2016

The attack came as some 300 people defied a ban to march through the streets chanting "Cops, pigs, killers!" Police forced the demonstrators back with volleys of tear gas.

The march took place in the capital's Place de la Republique, the focal point for the youth-driven "Up All Night" movement that sprang from the protests against the Socialist government's controversial reforms.

Officials had banned the counter-demonstration over concerns it would "fuel tensions and seriously threaten public order".

Frayed relations

Public support for the police soared after last year's jihadist attacks in Paris, and generally remains high.

Despite the tensions, the French police still scored an enviable 82-percent approval rating in a recent opinion poll.

But relations have frayed following months of the near-weekly anti-government protests, which have increasingly strained police resources at a time of unprecedented security threats and tight budgets.

The state of emergency imposed after the November terror attacks that killed 130 people has also placed extra demands on the security forces, which have themselves come under fire for using undue force.

But Alexandre Langlois, head of the police section of the CGT union, said the police's reputation had been "smeared" and officers had become "scapegoats for social anger".

Hollande sent a "clear message of support to all police forces during a difficult time," his spokesman said, adding: "A balance must be perfectly preserved between maintaining order and respecting our rights."

Prime Minister Manuel Valls tweeted that to attack the police "is to attack all of us".

Security was exceptionally tight for the Paris demonstration, with some 400 police manning barriers around the square while a few hundred attended the rally.

A five-minute video showed clips of past demonstrations where protesters hurled petrol bombs, chunks of concrete and bottles at police.

Over the past two months, some 350 members of the security forces have been injured during protests against the proposed labour reforms, which were forced through the lower house of parliament last week without a vote.

A plainclothes officer was seriously injured after being hit in the head by a projectile at a Paris protest last month.

"You can see why these security forces are a bit exasperated," national police chief Jean-Marc Falcone said Wednesday.

Antoine, 31, one of the officers at the Paris rally, stressed how hard it was to police the recent demonstrations.

"Everything's a bit chaotic and you're put right in the middle of it. You have trouble sometimes knowing who's who, and people blame you.

"They have a go at you physically, they throw Molotov cocktails at you, stones," things that can could injure or even kill officers, he added.

Hooded troublemakers

Violence at the anti-government protests have often been instigated by small groups of hooded youths -- known as "casseurs" -- apparently well organised and determined to clash with police.

Fuelling anti-police sentiment was a video widely shared on social media in March showing two officers holding up a 15-year-old boy while another punched him.

Around 30 investigations have been opened into alleged police brutality, and left-wing politicians as well as unions have strongly criticised the government for its handling of the protests.

The police have called on the government to respond firmly to the hooded "casseurs" -- literally breakers, or troublemakers -- at protests.

(AFP)

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