Between 200 to 300 people gathered in peace on Saturday in Paris to denounce the compulsory wearing of the protective mask against the coronavirus with cries of "freedom, freedom!" and with the support of a few "yellow vests". Gathered from 1 pm Place de la Nation, they notably accused the government of "manipulating people through fear" and of imposing the mask in several large cities "without any scientific justification".
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"People wear the mask for fear of getting a fine"
This is one of the first mobilizations of anti-mask activists in France where they are struggling to come out of the shadows, unlike other countries such as Germany where an "anticorona" demonstration brought together some 18,000 people on Saturday. Berlin. In Paris, the demonstrators were quickly surrounded by dozens of police, some of whom issued tickets of 135 euros for not wearing a mask. "People don't want the mask, they only wear it because they are afraid of getting a fine," one of the protesters said over the microphone to applause.
Police officers issued tickets to some demonstrators for not respecting the wearing of the compulsory mask. Photo credit: CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT / AFP
"There aren't that many dead"
"When we look at the figures, we see that there are not that many deaths," says his side at the microphone of Europe 1 Rémi, professor of anti-mask music, while the latest assessment of the coronavirus on the territory reports 30,602 deaths and 7,000 new cases in 24 hours. "We do not understand why the masks were not necessary when we needed them [during the first wave, editor's note], and when we no longer need them they are mandatory!"
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But beyond the obligation, he denounces a "social violence": there is a "violence of fining 135 euros to people who have lost their job, or who had to work part-time. Me I earn half of my usual salary, and I am threatened with a plum at 135 euros? Can you imagine the social violence of this gesture? "
"The Covid-19 is not dangerous enough, it mainly kills people over 60"
A little further on, Sophie, a Parisian close to fifty, came to demonstrate for "the freedom to choose". "I am simply a citizen angry at the liberticidal measures which have no medical justification," she said. "Why is there this obligation, when despite the multiplication of cases of contamination, there are no more people in the hospital?" Beside her, demonstrators hold up placards proclaiming "Stop lies and corruption" or "The deep state will not pass".
Freedom, one of the arguments put forward on the signs of the anti-mask demonstration. Photo credit: CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT / AFP
"There is a lie somewhere because at the beginning, they said that you should not put on a mask. We want to know why this inconsistency", said Saïd, 53, from Bagneux, in the Hauts-de-Seine. . "There is no scientific proof of the usefulness of wearing a mask outside. The Covid-19 is not dangerous enough, it mainly kills people over the age of 60," says Anaïs, 26 years old, student in sociology.
Among the demonstrators are also several "yellow vests" who express their solidarity and criticize in particular the fact that the mask is not free. "This is one more justification for not taxing it and making the people pay," one of them explained.