Thousands of people in the streets of Paris against vaccination and the health pass
Several thousand people gathered on the Place du Palais Royal, in front of the Council of State and the Constitutional Council, in Paris, July 17, 2021. AFP - BERTRAND GUAY
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
Several thousand people, in at least three rallies, demonstrated Saturday afternoon in Paris against vaccination, the "
dictatorship
" or the health pass.
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The first procession, made up of a few thousand people, set off from the Palais-Royal, in front of the Council of State and the Constitutional Council, in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, before crossing the Seine with cries of "
Liberty
", "
No to the health dictatorship
" or "
Macron resignation
".
At the head of the procession, where the French flags flourished, were the former number 2 of the National Front Florian Philippot, the former LaREM deputy covidosceptic Martine Wonner, the singer Francis Lalanne or the former muse "yellow vests" Jacline Mouraud .
"
I was born in Portugal under the dictatorship of Salazar, I do not want us to relive that
", said Fernanda, 53, support of Florian Philippot. "
This is the start of something extremely strong in the resistance,
" said the latter, now a candidate for the 2022 presidential election, and who is trying to embody the structuring of the anti-health pass. A few leaflets diverting the yellow star with the mention "sanitary pass" were visible.
Before the demonstration, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, president of Debout la France, held a press conference in front of the Constitutional Council.
He denounced an "
unprecedented abuse of power
" and a "
health coup
", after the announcements of Emmanuel Macron.
With the sanitary pass in everyday life, it is according to him the "
beginning of a gear towards a dictatorship
".
►
To read also:
"A dictatorship is not that": Emmanuel Macron defends the new restrictions
Demonstrations in several cities
At the same time, around 1,500 people demonstrated in the streets of the south of the capital, in a disparate procession, at the call of "yellow vests", preceded by a police cordon. Leaving around 2:30 p.m. from the 14th arrondissement, the procession headed for the district of Jussieu (5th arrondissement), accompanied by banners such as "
wanted French Democratic Republic, disappeared on July 12, 2021
", "
no to the sanitary pass, stop at the dictatorship
”, and slogans“
Freedom
”,“
Macron dictator
”.
“
We are there for the demands of the yellow vests and the restrictions on freedoms. It is not one more freedom-killing law that makes us go out into the street. We have always been in the street
”, declared the“ yellow vest ”Jérôme Rodrigues. “
We are not anti-vaccines at all. We just want everyone to have the freedom to be vaccinated or not. PCR tests may be sufficient and then they must be left free,
”launched Aurélie and Tiphaine, in their thirties, both employed in a shopping center in the Paris region. Finally, a few dozen people took part in another unauthorized gathering at Place de la République.
Demonstrations are taking place in many other cities in France.
Some 400 people marched in the morning in Quimper, 1,200 in Perpignan, 1,700 in Clermont-Ferrand, 2,300 in Valence (Drôme).
In Dijon, the police used tear gas and tram traffic was briefly interrupted by demonstrators chanting “Freedom!
Freedom !
".
Parades are announced in other cities, such as Montpellier or Lyon.
(With
AFP
)
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Emmanuel Macron