Paris (AFP)

Until when can they continue?

A few days after the generalization of the health pass in most public places, his opponents are planning more than 200 demonstrations in France on Saturday, on the occasion of a fifth weekend of mobilization.

This motley movement, which brings together beyond the vaccine-skeptical or conspiratorial galaxy, has grown in unprecedented fashion in the heart of summer.

Last week, the Interior Ministry counted 237,000 demonstrators across the country, twice as many as for the first nationwide rallies on July 17.

On Saturday, the authorities expect "a mobilization of the same order, or even slightly higher," said a police source to AFP.

Three rallies are planned in Paris with, as in previous weeks, a clear division between the two main ones which include most of the demonstrators.

On the one hand, the parade organized at the call of the former number 2 of the National Gathering and now president of the Patriots, Florian Philippot, will start from the Place de la Catalogne around 2:30 p.m.

On the other, a procession declared by "yellow vests" will bring together those who refuse to march alongside the extreme right, with a departure from the Golden Gate around 1:00 pm.

Very followed in the south, the movement brings together large crowds every week in cities like Toulon, Montpellier or Nice, where new demonstrations are expected on Saturday.

Despite this dispute, the health pass has become widespread since Monday in most public places, after the green light given by the Constitutional Council for its extension.

Bars, restaurants, cinemas, museums, hospitals, long-distance transport ... All are required to claim the QR code which testifies to a complete vaccination, a negative test in the last seventy-two hours, or a recovery faced with illness in the past six months.

A traveler shows his sanitary pass at the Gare de Lyon, August 9, 2021 in Paris GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT AFP / Archives

In the processions, made up of very diverse citizens, often without political or union affiliation, this device is perceived as an attack on "freedoms" and as a "disguised vaccination obligation".

Some demonstrators also denounce a "health dictatorship".

- "Incandescent" society -

An accusation rejected en bloc by Emmanuel Macron, on the front line in the face of the challenge.

After trying to convince the youngest directly on social networks, the president explained on Wednesday "measuring the constraints" related to the introduction of the pass and estimated that there was "no other choice because it was that or the closure of the country ".

President Emmanuel Macron during a defense council on the health situation, August 11, 2021 at Fort de Brégançon, in Bormes-les-Mimosas ERIC GAILLARD POOL / AFP

The "dramatic situation" in the West Indies, faced with a new deadly peak caused by the Delta variant while vaccination is three times lower than in metropolitan France, offers a "cruel demonstration" of the need for the vaccine, according to the head of the state.

Faced with the challenge of convincing without stigmatizing, the executive also fears a radicalization of the anti-pass movement.

On Wednesday, the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin ordered reinforced surveillance around vaccination centers, screening or pharmacies, following a series of malicious acts.

Some processions also include an anti-Semitic fringe, which notably sports a new slogan: "Mais Qui?".

Thursday, the Minister of Health Olivier Véran denounced from Martinique the demonstrators who protest "with extremely colorful signs and sometimes extremely dubious reasons, (...) even completely filthy".

Demonstration against the health pass, August 7, 2021 near the Pont de Neuilly, in Paris STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN AFP

Visiting Carcassonne (Aude), where he was attacked by a vaccine-skeptic passer-by who accused the government of "killing France", Prime Minister Jean Castex acknowledged Wednesday that "society is tired, incandescent" , after a year and a half of fighting the pandemic.

The government wants to meet its target of 50 million French people having received a first injection at the end of August.

Faced with the protest, he brandishes the card of the silent majority: since mid-July, appointments made in vaccination centers far exceed the number of opponents mobilized in the street every Saturday.

Minority according to the polls, the demonstrators do not disarm and count on the end of the holidays to increase the pressure.

Florian Philippot, leader of the party "Les Patriotes (c) and Nicolas Dupont-Aignan of" Debout la France "during a demonstration against the health pass, August 7, 2021 in Paris STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN AFP / Archives

From Thursday, Florian Philippot called on Youtube for a "great single, national event, next Saturday, September 4", with "all the political forces".

© 2021 AFP