Shoes stand in silent protest at Paris climate conference
More than 20,000 pairs of shoes laid out in the Place de la Rpublique as part of symbolic rally
Protesters place hundreds of pairs of shoes at Place de la Rpublique
Parisiansdropped off their footwearin thePlace de laRpubliqueas part of a symbolic and peaceful rally called by the NGOAvaaz.
Among the mix of flips flops, winter boots andhigh heels wasfootwear from notable activists including PopeFrancis'sformal black shoes, running shoes from UN chiefBanKi-moonand high heels from designerVivienneWestwood.
Long-planned climatemarch in Paris ahead of this week's UN conferencewas cancelled due to security fears.
There isa ban on public demonstrations in Paris in the wake of the Nov.13attacks, butthousands of activists and protestersdecided to ignore it on Sunday. Manyformed a human chain along the route of theplanned climate march.
But the unauthorized Paris demonstration turned violent.
The protest turned into a clash betweenFrench police and activists gathered in the streets of Paris. Michel Cadot, the Paris police chief,told reporters that police identified 200 to300 people who violated a ban on all protests under the country's state of emergency.
Cadot said about 100demonstrators were detained for peltingsecurity forces with glass bottles and even some of thecandles thatwere placed at Place de la Rpublique to honour victims of the attacks.
Paris police set off many rounds of tear gas todisperse the crowd.
The CBC'sNahlah Ayedis in Paris covering the conference and gave an update on the situation at Place de laRpublique.
Many climate-related marches went off without a hitch in other cities.
In Canada, thousands gathered indowntown Ottawa forThe 100% Possible climate march, organized by a local environmental advocacy group. Other large Canadian demonstrations were held in Halifax and Vancouver.
with files from The Associated Press and Reuters