Sarkozy supporters celebrate victory, opponents clash with police

Some 30,000 supporters of Nicolas Sarkozy gathered in the Concorde square in downtown Paris on Sunday night to celebrate the election of the right-wing politician as France's new president while protestors clashed with police.

A large crowd formed in the headquarters of Sarkozy's Union for a Popular Movement, where Sarkozy claimed victory. The supporters exploded with joy when unofficial results confirmed Sarkozy's victory at 8 p.m. (1800 GMT).

Supporters then moved to the square to enjoy themselves with music. The supporters, many of whom young people, shouted, jumped in the air and clapped their hands rhythmically and waved flags.

Sarkozy also appeared in the square to thank his supporters.

There were reports of violence and clashes between the police and anti-Sarkozy protestors in Paris and in several provinces.

Sarkozy won 53.7 percent of the vote in the second round while his rival, Segolene Royal of the Socialist Party, got 46.3 percent, according to preliminary results.

Royal conceded defeat minutes after the unofficial results were known. While Sarkozy appealed for unity, Royal vowed to continue the leftist course and set her eyes on the upcoming parliamentary elections.

"There are other democratic goals toward which we must work," she told supporters.

"You can count upon me to continue renovating the left, to continue to find new points of convergence beyond existing borders and frontiers. This is the precondition for having a future."

Francois Bayrou, a centrist politician who came in the third place in the first round of the presidential race, also set his sight on next month's parliamentary election.

"Power has to be balanced. That is the stake in the parliamentary election," he said in a speech on Sunday night.

Sarkozy, who is mandated with a five-year term, faces a daunting task to revive the country's economy and address social woes such as malcontent in the suburbs of big cities.

Source: Xinhua