A booster shot a few days before the entry into force of the vaccination obligation for the health professions. Tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of several French cities this Saturday for the ninth consecutive week to denounce the health pass. After three weekends of decline, the authorities are counting on a burst of mobilization, which brings together antivax, close to “yellow vests”, far-right activists or, more generally, political opponents of the government.
At 6 p.m., the services of the Ministry of the Interior counted 121,000 demonstrators, including 19,000 in Paris, for 207 actions in total, learned 20 minutes. The ministry had counted 140,000 demonstrators last Saturday, 165,000 the previous week and 175,000 seven days earlier. As a reminder, the strongest mobilization since the beginning of the movement took place on August 7 with 237,000 participants, including 17,000 in Paris, for 198 actions across the country.
“We are at the foot of the wall”
In the capital, four processions were formed. One set off at the beginning of the afternoon from the avenue de Breteuil, a mixture of “yellow vests” or activists from the South or far left union, shouting “Macron, ton pass, on n ‘don’t want it’, ‘Macron resignation’ or ‘No to dictatorship’. In its ranks, nursing staff, forced to be vaccinated against Covid-19 from September 15 on pain of being suspended. “We are up against the wall. On September 15, colleagues and I will be suspended without pay. The health system did not need that ”, despairs Corinne, nursing assistant for 30 years, came from Franche-Comté to demonstrate in Paris.
These demonstrations come the day after the indictment for “endangering the lives of others” of the former Minister of Health Agnès Buzyn, as part of the investigation opened by the Court of Justice of the Republic ( CJR) on government management of the Covid-19 epidemic. “Agnès Buzyn is just a puppet. She obeys orders, ”commented Rachel, a music therapist who was demonstrating in Rennes. “I wish that all the political personnel who accepted the manipulation of a world pseudo-scientifism pass to judgment. »« We can put them all with her! », Added Pascale Guyot, nursing assistant and FO union representative. “There is not one who managed the crisis well and it continued with Véran”, she added in the middle of the procession of Clermont-Ferrand.
A few incidents were reported in Paris at midday around the Champs-Elysées, where the police fired tear gas canisters to deny access to demonstrators. Also according to the ministry, 3 members of the security forces were injured and 76 people were arrested, including 70 in Paris.