Paris - Bands of roving youths set fires to cars and trash bins, looted stores and battled police on the French overseas territory of La Reunion as a demonstration protesting the high cost of living degenerated into violence, local media reported Wednesday.

One policeman was injured by gunfire and 20 received other injuries in a disturbing reminder of the riots that shook French suburban ghettos in the fall of 2005. French media reported that 22 people were arrested.

The incidents occurred late Tuesday after thousands of people marched in the streets of Saint-Denis, the capital of this island in the Indian Ocean, to demand salary hikes of 200 euros (255 dollars) a month for low-wage earners and price cuts of 20 per cent for some 500 products.

After the Caribbean departments of Guadeloupe and Martinique, La Reunion is the latest French overseas department to be struck by strikes and protests because of the high cost of living.

On the island of Martinique, protests went into their fifth week on Wednesday, despite an offer by the employers association MEDEF for a wage rise of 200 to 250 euros a month. (dpa)