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Paris:
More than 100,000 people have taken to the streets across France
to protest the government plans to approve same-sex marriage and
adoption.
Saturday's protest, called the "March for Everyone," included
pro-family and Catholic groups. Several thousand people marched in
Paris, carrying signs with slogans such as "One child (equals) one
father + one mother."
Some 70,000 people joined the Paris rally on Saturday, police
said, though organisers put the figure at 200,000, with more than
30,000 others holding similar protests in towns around the
country.
In the southeastern city of Lyon, 22,000 people protested, police
said. Officers there detained around 40 youths who had come to
oppose the main rally.
There were other protests in the northwestern towns of Rennes and
Nantes, and in the northern town of Laon.
Up to 8,000 also marched in the southern city of Marseille, where
they too were confronted by supporters of gay marriage.
In the southwestern city of Toulouse, police used tear gas against
a group of several hundred activists who tried to confront the
main rally of several thousand in a counter-protest.
Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, a women's rights minister and government
spokeswoman, defended the right of homosexuals to marry and to
adopt as representing progress for everyone.
She said there had been a similar uproar when France backed civil
marriages for gay couples 14 years earlier, yet this had since
been accepted.
Parliament would in any case consult widely on the issue and this
would be the time for debate, she added, warning against excess
and polemic.
French President Francois Hollande's government has come under
fire from Catholic groups and the right-wing opposition over the
bill.
The marches came as Pope Benedict XVI called on the French church
on Saturday to make its voice heard on social issues.
Another demonstration against gay marriage has been called in
Paris for Sunday by the Catholic organisation Civitas.
And the campaigners intend to keep up the pressure, with more
demonstrations called for January 13.
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