People should not block traffic in the name of protest in Paris, French police sternly warned. (File)
Paris:
French police warned on Thursday that they would prevent so-called “Freedom Convoys” from blocking Paris as protesters against Covid rules began driving to the capital.
Inspired by truck drivers paralyzing Canada’s capital Ottawa, truck drivers and other motorists from across France are answering a call to come to Paris on Friday.
The move has raised fears of a repeat of the 2018 anti-government protests with the “yellow vests” rocking France just two months before President Emmanuel Macron is expected to seek reelection.
“There will be a special commitment … to avoid blockages of major roads, issue fines and arrest those who violate this protest ban,” the Paris police said in a statement.
Police chief Didier Lallement had ordered officers to be “severe” against violators, it added.
The city’s ban will remain in effect until Monday.
Police said anyone blocking roads could face up to two years in prison, a fine of EUR 4,500 ($5,140) and a three-year driving ban.
“If people want to demonstrate in a normal way, they can do it,” Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told the LCI channel. But, he added: “If they want to block traffic, we will intervene.”
Authorities in neighboring Belgium have also warned as participants on Monday appeared to want to travel on to Brussels, the capital of Belgium and the European Union, for what they called “a European convergence”.
The mayor of Brussels, Philippe Close, said the city would ban the demonstrations for the simple reason that no one had applied for a permit for the convoys.
“Measures have been taken to avoid the blockade of the Brussels region,” Close wrote on Twitter.
And Austrian police said no “Freedom Convoy” would be allowed in Vienna, saying the vehicles would cause “unacceptable nuisance” as well as pollution from fuel emissions.
– ‘Let our voices be heard’ –
Many protesters showed up in France undaunted.
“We are going to the capital no matter what,” garbage collector Adrien Wonner, who planned to leave the northern region of Normandy, told AFP.
The 27-year-old, a former “yellow vest” protester, added that protesters wanted to “make our voices heard” but “not to block Paris”.
Anger over coronavirus restrictions is high on their agenda, especially the “health pass” system that prevents unvaccinated people from entering enclosed public spaces such as restaurants, bars, long-distance trains or sports stadiums.
Remi Monde, a prominent social media supporter of the convoys, told AFP their main demand was a “revocation of the health pass and any measures that force or pressure people to get vaccinated”.
After conventional demonstrations failed, “we want to try something different and see what the government’s response will be to cheerful, pacifist people,” he added.
The movement is “far from having a solid structure”, but “this particularly media-friendly new form of action could give new impetus to several protest groups,” according to a police report seen earlier this week by RTL broadcaster and Le newspaper. Parisian.
– Vaccine pass ‘deviation’ –
Eyhande Abeberry, 52, told AFP the vaccine pass was “an anomaly” as it left Wednesday for one of the convoys in the southern French town of Bayonne.
But as in Ottawa, the French protests were poised to go beyond Covid problems, as well as to cover low wages and high energy costs – the same grievances that fueled the ‘yellow vest’ demonstrations.
“There are many similarities with the yellow vest movement,” says Laurence Bindner, co-founder of JOS Project, a platform for the analysis of extremist online content.
The “yellow vests” — so called because they wore fluorescent safety vests that vehicles are required to have in France — had quickly added “anti-system protests” to their original complaint about fuel price increases, she told AFP.
Bindner said “we may have to expect extreme elements” among current protesters, but any future easing of Covid restrictions could lead to the movement “softening” its approach.
Macron’s government has already mobilized billions of euros (dollars) to mitigate the impact on households of rising gas and petrol prices.
Far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen said she “understood” the protesters and said the demonstrations were “another form” of the “yellow vest” movement.
Government spokesman Gabriel Attal said he acknowledged the public’s “weariness” with infection control measures, but emphasized that France was one of the European countries with “the fewest restrictions violating citizens’ freedoms”.
Attal also indicated that the country may be in a position to drop its mandatory vaccine pass in late March or early April if the number of cases falls. The first round of the presidential election is scheduled for April 10.
(This story was not edited by DailyExpertNews staff and was generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)
