Would France be deaf to the wind of revolt against the sanitary measures which is raging on the roads of its Italian neighbor? This is, in essence, the message relayed for a few days in viral publications illustrated with videos supposed to show the significant slowdowns caused by Italian truckers opposed to
extension of perimeter the local health pass, the “green pass”, in order to fight against the spread of Covid-19.
“Our Italian friends have started today to block the country against this world elite which imposes its dictatorship on us! “, enthusiastically thus an Internet user, based on the photo of two traffic lanes in the grip of a massive traffic jam.
That’s it ! In Italy, truckers start the general blockade of roads against covidism and #PassDeLaHonte !
French truck drivers, French farmers, fairgrounds,…: a whole people are counting on you! Support ! ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/qZdGjMb8dJ– Florian Philippot (@f_philippot) September 26, 2021
For his part, Florian Philippot, president of the Patriots’ party, broadcast a sequence showing a line of heavyweights honking their horns, accompanied by an unequivocal caption: “That’s it! In Italy the truckers are starting the general blocking of roads against covidism and the pass of shame! French truck drivers, French farmers, fairgrounds…: a whole people are counting on you! Support ! “
However, if Italian truckers have indeed launched an online call for mobilization on the roads this week, none of these images has any link with this protest movement.
FAKE OFF
The photo of traffic jams visible in the first sequence circulated in 2014 to evoke road traffic in Sao Paulo, Brazil, as shown in reverse image search.
The video tweeted by Florian Philippot, it has been shot in Italy these days. More precisely on September 25 in Carmagnola, near Turin, in Piedmont, as proved by Google Street View. But this sequence goes back to the day before the first day of mobilization of anti-pass truckers scheduled for September 27, as detailed in our
transalpine colleagues from Facta.
These vehicles were actually brought together for the 7th edition of the Festa Michele, which brings together heavy goods vehicles every year, which the municipality confirmed to Facta.
An operation with mixed success
On September 27, the famous Italian daily La Stampa
also took stock more than mitigated from the first day of mobilization of the truckers (a “flop” whose only “success” resided on social networks), the police having not observed particular traffic jams on the roads. The snail operation carried out the next day, however, caused more inconvenience,
as the same diary notes.
In France, many Internet users call for a ” black monday »On the roads on October 4. Almost two months, to the day, after the (erroneous) anticipation of a massive blockage of road transporters in France on August 15.