After a first national mobilization on July 17, dozens of demonstrations are again planned this Saturday throughout France, against the extension of the health pass and compulsory vaccination for certain professions. Nearly 110,000 demonstrators are expected across the country, according to the authorities.
In Paris, three events were declared to the prefecture, at noon from Place de la Bastille to Porte de Champerret, as well as between Place Malraux and Les Invalides, and at 2:30 p.m. at Trocadéro. ” Everyone come ! Freedom ! “, Tweeted Wednesday the former number two of the FN and president of the Patriots Florian Philippot, at the initiative of the Parisian rally on the Place du Trocadéro. At least a dozen gatherings are planned in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, including Lyon where the mobilization will start at 3:00 p.m. from Place Bellecour (2nd arrondissement).
Additional security measures
Following the “violence” that took place last Saturday on the sidelines of an “illegal” anti-health pass rally on Place Bellecour, two perimeters banning demonstrations were established by the Rhône prefecture, from 12:00 to 21:00. In Annecy, the declared demonstration is coupled with a public gathering of exchanges and debates at the call of the organizers of the first demonstrations, from March, “for freedom”, and without masks.
And in Chambéry, where demonstrators had entered the town hall on Wednesday to take down the portrait of Emmanuel Macron, the procession on Saturday is again undeclared, regrets the prefecture of Savoy. In the Grand-Est region, a rally is organized from 1 pm on Place Kléber in Strasbourg to say “no to the health pass and to the pension reform”. In Toulouse, the meeting is set at 2 pm in the city center, despite the ban “on any unreported protest rally” issued by the prefecture. Other calls to demonstrate have been launched, among others, in Lille, Marseille, Belfort, Nantes, Besançon or Colmar, each time in the afternoon.
More than 110,000 people on the streets last week
Grouped around the hashtags # manif24juillet, #PassDeLaHonte or # liberty on social networks, the opposition to government measures to fight Covid-19 unites anti-mask, anti-vaccine or anti-containment demonstrators with protean demands. Last Saturday, more than 110,000 people demonstrated throughout France against vaccination, the “dictatorship” or the health pass, including 18,000 in Paris divided into several processions and 96,000 in the rest of the country, according to the Ministry of the Interior.
During the week, several hundred demonstrators gathered in front of the National Assembly and the Senate, following the parliamentary route of the anti-Covid bill, whose adoption is expected at the end of the weekend. These protests come as a very large majority of French people (76%) approve of President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to make vaccination compulsory for healthcare workers and other professions, with penalties, according to an Elabe poll for BFMTV July 13. The extension of the health pass (complete vaccination or recent negative test) also receives a majority of approvals, but which varies according to the places concerned.