Paris, Apr 9 (IANS): French police on Monday dispersed a group of eco-activists and demolished their tents from a site that had been planned as a new airport.

Some 2,500 police officers conducted a raid at the site at Notre-Dame-des-Landes, near Nantes, where the activists have been camping for years to prevent the construction of an airport, the plan for which had been dropped by President Emmanuel Macron in January, reports Efe news.

Although the government had said they will vacate the land and return it to the former owners, the activists had continued with their protest on the site to ensure that the land, which had already been acquired, would be used for ecological purposes.

The activists countered the police raid with homemade rockets, causing an eye injury to an officer, who was taken to a hospital in Nantes with retinal detachment.

The government's decision to pull out of building the proposed airport was harshly criticised by the conservative opposition, mainly in Nantes.

The 40-year-old project was considered obsolete by the present government, despite the fact that former President Francois Hollande's administration had organised a referendum in 2016 and secured the approval of 55 per cent of the inhabitants of the area.