AP Reports French Protest Against Gay Marriage Turns Violent, Protesters Threw Bottles, Cans And Metal Bars At Police

The French protest against gay marriage, which the country legalized Tuesday, has turned violent, reports the Associated Press.

The issue of sex-same marriage in France has been a wrenching and deeply divisive national debate that has exposed the intense conservatism in the nation’s heartland. It has triggered huge demonstrations, which tapped into great discontent with the Socialist government. Within hours of the protests, fiery clashes broke out between protesters and the French riot police.

According to Justice Minister Christiane Taubira, the first weddings could be held this June.

She said, “We believe that the first weddings will be beautiful and that they'll bring a breeze of joy, and that those who are opposed to them today will surely be confounded when they are overcome with the happiness of the newlyweds and the families."

Earlier in the day, there appeared to more police than protesters outside the parliament building on Paris’ Left Bank, but that count soon shifted as night fell and thousands more gathered to protest the bill. The protest dwindled to a few people shortly before midnight, when the violence started among a few hundred demonstrators including someone who carried signs saying “Socialist dictatorship.”

A 41-year-old mother, Claire Baron, vehemently declared that she “will oppose the bill until the end.”

She said, "I'll keep going to the protests, I don't give in. The bill is not effective yet, the president of the Republic must listen to our voices. We are here to defend family values. Children need a mom and a dad."

In recent weeks, violent attacks against gay couples have spiked and some legislator received have received threats from anti-gay marriage advocates – including Claude Bartelone, the Assembly president, who got a gunpowder-filled envelope on Monday.

One of the biggest protests drew together hundreds of thousands of people bused in from French provinces – conservative activists, schoolchildren with their parents, retirees, priests and others participated in the huge event. The demonstration ended in blasts of tear gas, as right-wing rabble-rousers, some of whom were wearing masks and hoods, led the charge against the police. The chaos has damaged cars along Champs-Elysees avenue and was making its way to the presidential palace.

Following the vote that officially legalized same-sex marriage in the country, members of the gay and lesbian community flocked to a square in central Paris, just behind City Hall, to celebrate the historic vote.

Paris’s openly gay mayor, Bertrand Delanoe, could be seen amongst the crowd of hundreds that gathered for the celebrations in Marais, the city’s historic gay district.