This is a new challenge for the government. Every weekend, several hundred thousand people demonstrate across France against the introduction of the health pass. Next Saturday, a new day of mobilization is scheduled when they were 214,845 in the streets last week, according to the Ministry of the Interior. Faced with this movement which is always full, and could be reinforced at the start of the school year, the majority is trying to marginalize it, by betting on “the silent majority” which has chosen vaccination.
“Every day, the silent majority express themselves by vaccinating themselves”
After bars, restaurants, hospitals and trains, more than 120 large shopping centers and stores in the Paris region and the southern half of France now systematically check the health pass. Like the government spokesperson, Gabriel Attal, traveling this Wednesday in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, the executive intends to show the good implementation of the health pass to better marginalize the mobilization. “There will always be a few handfuls of stubborn and stubborn people, but in reality, the sanitary pass is no problem. Its implementation is going very well and helps reassure people, ”greeted the deputy Anne Genetet, spokesperson for the group La République en Marche.
“The health pass is a passport to freedom,” abounds François Patriat, the patron saint of LREM senators. The antivax fraction is fortunate to have the rest of the country vaccinating and protecting it. Every day, the silent majority express themselves by vaccinating themselves ”. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Jean Castex welcomed “40 million French people with a complete vaccination schedule”, while the executive hopes to cross the threshold of 50 million first-time vaccinated at the end of August.
The West Indies, “proof by example”
To better convince the recalcitrant, the majority is relying on the crisis in Guadeloupe and Martinique, where the vaccination rate is much lower than that of metropolitan France. “Unfortunately, the terrible health situation in the West Indies is proof by example. This will, I hope, raise awareness. Debates around the vaccine are the subject of disinformation on the internet, while all data is public. There is no longer any need for mistrust, ”says Jean Terlier, deputy for Tarn and spokesperson for the LREM group.
“I hope the example in the West Indies prompted those who procrastinate to get vaccinated. The end of free tests, holidays, and social pressure, will also convince some of the refractory, continues the LREM deputy of Paris Sylvain Maillard. The polls show it: the vast majority of French people have clearly chosen the vaccine and the health pass, there is no debate. ” According to an Ifop poll published on Sunday, only a third of the country would support the mobilization against the health pass (and 50% against).
A pebble in Emmanuel Macron’s campaign?
The start of the school year could however amplify the protest movement, according to territorial information, with the return from vacation and the implementation of restrictions for unvaccinated students. TO
Franceinfo, the secretary of the union of police commissioners is worried about a return to school “a little complicated”.
Among the macronists, we are trying to calm things down. “Have we already experienced a month of September where we did not say that the start of the school year was going to be hot? It is a favorable moment for mobilizations, and one can imagine that some wish to seize this period with a few months of the presidential one, denounces Anne Genetet. Same story for François Patriat, close to the Head of State: “Some of the demonstrators are primary anti-Macron and will seek to weaken him before the presidential election. This is also why we have to stand firm. The slightest sign of government weakness would be a counterproductive setback ”.