Paris Bans ‘Freedom Convoys’ Protest Inspired by Canada’s Anti-Vaccine Truckers

The “freedom convoys” in Franceinspired by the movement launched in Canada against measures related to coronavirusThey will be banned from protesting in Paris to avoid the blockade of the capital, authorities announced Thursday, two months before the presidential election.

When several convoys set course for Paris from cities like Nice, Bayonne or Perpignan, this movement is in the crosshairs of the authorities due to its possible closeness to the social protest of the “yellow vests”, which shook France in 2018 and 2019.

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The security forces will launch “a specific device (…) to prevent the blocking of streets, to fine and to arrest those who violate this prohibition,” announced the Paris police prefecture, which called for “firmness” from the police. agents.

“We will go to the capital no matter what happens,” Adrien Wonner, a 27-year-old garbage collector from Normandy (west), for whom the goal is to “make himself heard” but “not block” told AFP. The arrival is scheduled for Friday and some call to continue the protest on Monday in Brussels.

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In Canada, this movement, which has also spread to New Zealand, has blocked the center of the capital, Ottawa, for almost two weeks, in protest against anticovid measures, although its initial criticism was the mandatory vaccination for truckers.

Two months before the presidential election, one of the fears in France is that the protest will also extend to the question of purchasing power, the main concern of the French according to the polls and which has already galvanized the “yellow vests”.

Rémi Monde, one of the initiators of the movement, told AFP that his main demand is the withdrawal “of all measures of coercion or pressure linked to vaccination”, although he also mentioned purchasing power and the cost of energy.

“Everyone who got vaccinated had health problems. What we want is for journalists, the media to finally tell the truth”assured on Wednesday the leader of the convoy that left Bayonne (southwest), who preferred to remain anonymous.

Although the protests against the restrictions have been a minority in two years of crisis, a poll in mid-January by IFOP for Le Journal du Dimanche indicates that 58% of the French – especially government supporters – support the vaccination passport .

“virtual success”

“In Franceas in the world, political movements, often radical, have sought to capitalize [el] satiety” in the face of the crisis covid-19, The government spokesman, Gabriel Attal, warned on Wednesday when announcing the possible end of the vaccine passport for the beginning of April.

But in the middle of the electoral period, the opposition did not hesitate to speak out. The far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen said she “understands” the new movement and the radical left of France Insumisa called for joining it.

A Monday note from the intelligence services points out that the movement can give “a new impetus” to the “yellow vests”, plotters and opponents of the health passport, but specifies that its “success is virtual”, according to public radio France Info.

Thousands of opponents of the vaccination passport, which allows access to bars and entertainment venues in France, in fact announced on social networks their support for the movement, whose organizers also claim to be “yellow vests”.

This protest, which started from the rise in fuel prices to become a revolt against President Emmanuel Macron, was etched in the collective memory, especially by the images of looting on the Champs-Elysées and even on the Arc de Triomphe.

Faced with the global rise in energy prices, the Liberal president’s government has made an effort to announce measures in recent weeks to alleviate household bills, such as a single compensation of 100 euros ($114) for 38 million French .

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Source: Elcomercio

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