THOUSANDS of police officers protested in central Paris yesterday against unsafe working conditions, after an officer was critically wounded by a convict freed on licence.

The officers gathered in the Place Vendome, waving union flags and sending up coloured smoke from flares.

Similar protests took place in other cities.

The wounding of the officer hit a nerve among colleagues feeling the strain of a particularly tense year, which started with deadly extremist attacks on satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket.

“There has been a breakdown between police and the justice system,” said Angelo Bruno of the Unite-SGP union.

President Francois Hollande promised to meet police unions next week.