Thousands of police officers deployed as more marches and strikes held in France

Demonstrators march in Nantes, western France (Jeremias Gonzalez/AP)

A French minister has warned that violent demonstrators intend “to destroy, to injure and to kill” as trade unions held more marches and strikes on Tuesday against controversial pension reforms.

Fears that violence could mar demonstrations planned across the country prompted what interior minister Gerald Darmanin described as an unprecedented deployment of 13,000 officers, with nearly half of them concentrated in Paris.