Stephane Mahe / Reuters

A French riot gendarme reacts after being covered with lime during clashes with demonstrators during an evacuation operation on land that will become the new airport in Notre-Dame-des-Landes, western France, on November 23, 2012.

French police, protesters clash at airport site

The Associated Press reports from NOTRE-DAME-DES-LANDES, France — More than 500 riot police, some firing tear gas, are clashing with protesters squatting in a wooded area of western France to oppose the building of a new airport there.

In a muddy, rainy standoff starting early Friday, protesters responded to police attempts to remove them by hurling sticks, stones and gasoline bombs. For two weeks, protesters have illegally occupied the site of the planned Notre-Dame-Des-Landes airport set to start operating in 2017.

Environmentalists and the far-left Green Party complain the airport will mean pollution; supporters insist on its economic benefits. Read the full story.

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Comment author avatarwolfhound27

ahhhhh to be French is to be French.And who understand the French?only the French.

    Reply#1 - Fri Nov 23, 2012 5:17 PM EST
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