More than 200,000 people marched on Saturday for the third consecutive weekend of demonstrations against the health pass. The mobilization was therefore stronger than last Saturday, according to figures from the Ministry of the Interior, which expected more than 150,000 demonstrators throughout France. At 6 p.m., the services of the Ministry of the Interior had identified exactly 204,090 demonstrators, including about 14,250 in Paris, for 184 actions in total. Last Saturday, these demonstrations brought together a total of 161,000 people, including 11,000 in Paris.
Grouped around the hashtags # manif31juillet and #PassDeLaHonte on social networks, opposition to measures to fight Covid-19 brings together anti-health, anti-vaccine or anti-containment protesters, with protean demands. In the processions, where there are also many “yellow vests”, the demonstrators castigate a “liberticidal” health pass and claim to march “against the dictatorship”.
Thank you to the police and gendarmes mobilized today throughout France to supervise the demonstrations. Full support for the 3 injured police officers and all the police officers and gendarmes who were taken to task
Assessment at this stage: 19 arrests including 10 in Paris.– Gerald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) July 31, 2021
According to a first report communicated by the Interior, “19 arrests took place, including 10 in Paris”. In a tweet, the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin thanked the “police and gendarmes mobilized throughout France to supervise the demonstrations”.
More than 3,000 police and gendarmes mobilized
In Paris, four demonstrations were planned and more than 3,000 police and gendarmes were mobilized to supervise the demonstrators and secure sensitive places, a week after demonstrators were pushed back from the Champs-Elysées. Demonstrations were also planned in more than 150 cities in France, with an attendance which should be particularly important in Toulon, Montpellier, Bordeaux, Marseille, Nice, Metz, Nantes and Pau.
At least 38,000 people have demonstrated in the South-East of France against the vaccine obligation. In Montpellier, the demonstration brought together 10,000 people, according to the latest report from the prefecture, almost double last week (5,500). In Aix-en-Provence (Bouches-du-Rhône), more than 2,200 people demonstrated in the city center on Saturday morning and 3,000 people gathered in Avignon, capital of Vaucluse, at the beginning of the afternoon without incident.
The record reached in the Var where the rally in Toulon drained 13,000 people
In Marseille, some 4,800 people (4,300 last weekend), according to the police headquarters, gathered at the Old Port at 2 p.m. before heading to the prefecture where the police used tear gas to prevent the demonstrators from get too close to the building. The crowd was very heterogeneous, with thirty to retirees, people waving the communist flag or rebellious France (LFI), others displaying the French flag with cross of Lorraine and the presence of some “yellow vests” .
In Nice, the mobilization – 6,500 people according to the police – was also a little more provided than the previous week when 6,000 protesters had marched. The record was reached in the Var where the rally in Toulon drained 13,000 people, according to the prefecture.
Evacuation tense in Paris
In Paris, the situation became somewhat tense at the end of the afternoon at Place de la Bastille, after the arrival of the main procession against the health pass. The parade, which left the Villiers metro station (17th arrondissement of Paris) at the start of the afternoon, had already been marked by some tensions along the route, especially on the outskirts of République. The police headquarters reported three wounded among the police.
On several occasions, on the Place de la Bastille, the police used tear gas and water cannons to try to disperse the demonstrators at the end of the afternoon or to respond to throwing projectiles. The firefighters intervened for trash fires and a woman was taken care of by “street medics”.