France

Anti-pass demonstrations: the summer soap opera?

- 5:36 pm
manif-toulon-twitter

manif-toulon-twitter

Are we heading for an anti-pass protest every week, as was the case with the Yellow Vests? In any case, the opponents of the health pass and mandatory vaccination are not letting up the pressure.

Tens of thousands of French people marched, this Saturday, July 24, 2021, in more than 170 cities in France, still chanting the same slogans “Freedom, Freedom”, “Macron resign”, “Macron in prison” or “The pass will not pass”.
How many were there, these refractory to the health pass and to the compulsory vaccination? It’s hard to say. But certainly much more than the official figures claim. Tens of thousands in Toulon, as confirmed by the images on social networks, as many if not more in Montpellier for this third demonstration in a few days (July 14, 17 and 24), 3,000 in Metz, 3,000 in Nancy, nearly 5,000 in Strasbourg, 2,500 in Mulhouse, as many in Poitiers, where demonstrators took down the portrait of the President of the Republic inside the town hall, and also very dense processions in Marseille, Lyon, Toulouse, Lille, Bordeaux, etc.

Clashes in Paris

In the capital, there were three separate demonstrations. One at the Trocadero, at the call of Florian Philippot (Les Patriotes), gathered a crowd hostile to the health pass, of course, but especially to the policies of the government and the President of the Republic. Another demonstration in front of the Council of State at the call of Gilets jaunes. Finally, a third demonstration, very important, at Bastille, called by the Gilets jaunes. It is here that there were clashes between demonstrators and police.
But in Paris as elsewhere, the demonstrators are not only yellow vests. There are people from all walks of life, from all professions, from different political sensitivities, vaccinated and non-vaccinated people, all united in the unanimous rejection of the health pass and the attack on fundamental freedoms.

Passive and non-violent resistance

This is exactly what François Baudin, one of the leaders of the demonstration in Nancy, said. “I tell you as a citizen, as soon as this law of freedom is applied, we will enter into a two-tier legal system where some will be free and others will no longer be able to live normally, to go to certain places, to be treated or to visit parents or children in hospital… This differentiation of the French, this attack on the equality between citizens is a break in our rule of law. It is unheard of in the Republic to divide the French people in this way, to discriminate against them, to distinguish them.
François Baudin adds: “The time for passive, non-violent resistance, for civil disobedience has arrived. We must: boycott the places where the health pass is requested, refuse to present an identity document to anyone if necessary, refuse the obligation of vaccination in certain professions. We must demonstrate against this law in order to create a powerful and democratic movement to make this project null and void.”
Meanwhile, the Senate continued to examine the text and voted against the health pass for 12- 17 years and in terrace. This shows how divisive the subject is.
Other demonstrations are planned in the coming days. This may be the soap opera of the summer of 2021.

 

 

France,