They were thousands to demonstrate, Saturday, March 20, in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Switzerland or even the United Kingdom, to express their opposition to health measures.

While the Covid-19 crisis is bogged down, protest movements are gaining momentum in Europe on the theme of the defense of individual freedoms.

These demonstrations, sometimes violent as in London, Dresden or Amsterdam, have so far not touched France, which is however entering its third confinement and is not foreign to large-scale citizen mobilizations.

Would the French be more docile than their European neighbors in the face of health restrictions?

Some answers with Antoine Bristielle, associate professor of social sciences, researcher in political science and author of the essay "Who to trust? From the crisis of institutional confidence to the health crisis".

France 24: How do you analyze this rise in protest movements in Europe against health measures?

Where does it find its origins?

Antoine Bristielle:

 With the pandemic, a new theme has emerged, that of the defense of public freedoms, so far not very present in Europe.

Anti-system movements, particularly the far right, have used this breach to unite groups from various backgrounds gathered around the protest.

They are therefore completely heterogeneous movements that bring together demonstrators from the far right, but also from the far left or even followers of conspiracy theories, sometimes less politically marked.

These demonstrators do not correspond to the usual profiles that we find in social movements, because they are driven by the rejection of a system and not by a common ideal.

In France, the defense of public freedoms is a unifying theme, as we saw recently during demonstrations against the "Global Security" law.

How to explain that this type of movement does not take? 

It is indeed an interesting paradox!

I think we have to differentiate two aspects: mistrust of institutions and visible opposition through demonstrations.

In France, studies show that mistrust is extremely present.

While among the general population, confidence in institutions tends to increase during major crises, such as the one we are currently experiencing or after terrorist attacks.

Its level remained very low in France during the Covid-19 crisis, and is one of the lowest in Europe, behind Bulgaria, Spain and Italy.

However, if the mistrust vis-à-vis the measures taken is very strong, it is not structured.

Calls for disobedience on the networks mainly concern individual actions such as removing one's mask in businesses or calls not to respect the curfew.

This mistrust can also be expressed spontaneously, as we could see in Marseille, Saturday, during a carnival where the barrier measures were not respected.

Moreover, it does not find political incarnation in France.

The opposition parties are critical of the management of the crisis, but none call for disobedience;

the far right cannot afford it because of its presidential ambitions.

In other countries like Germany, the situation is different with radical groups which operate on the margins of the system and have a certain influence.

However, if the protest is more visible and spectacular in the countries where people demonstrate, this does not mean that its level is higher among the population than in France.

Does this public mistrust of health measures affect political decisions?

European leaders are paying close attention to changes in public opinion on this issue.

The very great caution around the AstraZeneca vaccine is a convincing illustration of this.

The "acceptability" of measures has become a compass, sometimes causing leaders to make serious mistakes.

This was the case in France, when the government relied on a soft start of vaccination to spare the "anti-vaccines", without understanding that the majority of the population wanted on the contrary to be vaccinated as soon as possible, in order to resume a normal life.

At the onset of the crisis, the government took enforcement action, believing that this was the only way to enforce the rules.

Today, he fears that this type of measure will not be respected, even if they are mandatory, and has no other choice but to rely on the responsibility of the French.

If the country has so far not experienced these movements to challenge health measures, the government remains very worried.

The episode of the yellow vests has left traces and the government wants to do everything to maintain social peace.

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