Police fire tear gas, fine Paris protest convoy
AFP - 

Paris police fired teargas and issued hundreds of fines on Saturday to break up a convoy of vehicles that attempted to block traffic in a protest over Covid restrictions and rising living costs.

Inspired by the truckers that shut down the Canadian capital Ottawa, thousands of demonstrators from across France made their way to Paris in a self-proclaimed "freedom convoy" of cars, trucks and vans.


© Sameer Al-DOUMYNearly 7,200 officers have been deployed

The police, which had banned the protest, moved quickly to try to clear the cars at entry points to the city, handing out 283 fines for participation in an unauthorised protest.

But over 100 vehicles managed to converge on the famous Champs-Elysees avenue, where police used teargas to disperse protesters in scenes reminiscent of the "yellow vest" anti-government riots of 2018-2019.

The demonstrators oppose the Covid vaccine pass required to access many public venues but some also took aim at rising energy and food prices, issues which ignited the "yellow vest" protests that shook France in late 2018 and early 2019.


© Sameer Al-DOUMYPolice moved quickly to break up the protest

Aurelie M., a 42-year-old administrative assistant in a Parisian company, complained that the health pass meant she could no longer take a long-distance TGV train even if she tested negative for Covid in a home test.


© Sameer Al-DOUMYSaturday's demonstrations come two months ahead of presidential elections, in which President Emmanuel Macron is expected to seek re-election

"There's so much inconsistency and unfairness," she told AFP, noting that commuters could still cram onto a crowded Paris metro without proof of vaccination.

Sixty-five-year-old factory worker Jean-Paul Lavigne said he travelled across the country from the southwestern town of Albi to protest fuel, food and electricity price hikes as well as the pressure on people to get vaccinated.

The demonstrations come two months ahead of presidential elections, in which President Emmanuel Macron is expected to seek re-election.

On Friday, the centrist French leader, who is a figure of hate for the far left, said he understood the "fatigue" linked to the Covid-19 pandemic.

- 'Fatigue leads to anger' -

"This fatigue also leads to anger. I understand it and I respect it. But I call for the utmost calm," he told the Ouest-France newspaper.


© Agnes COUDURIERIMAGES The police use tear gas to disperse demonstrators from the anti-vaccine pass convoys who have gathered on the Champs-Élysées in Paris.

Nearly 7,200 officers equipped with armoured vehicles and water cannon were deployed to keep the peace in Paris.


© Sameer Al-DOUMYDespite police efforts, over 100 vehicles managed to converge on the famous Champs-Elysees avenue

Police showed off their arsenal on Twitter, publishing photographs of loader tractors for the removal of barricades.


© Sameer Al-DOUMYAn armoured vehicle parked at the Arc de Triomphe

The convoys set out from Nice in the south, Lille and Vimy in the north, Strasbourg in the east and Chateaubourg in the west.

- 'It's a betrayal' -

They are demanding the withdrawal of the government's vaccine pass and more help with their energy bills.

"People need to see us, and to listen to the people who just want to live a normal and free life," said Lisa, a 62-year-old retired health worker travelling in the Chateaubourg convoy, who did not want to give her surname.

Paris police banned the gathering saying it posed a threat to public order and said protesters who tried to block roads would face fines or arrest.

The order prohibiting the assembly of convoys was upheld on Friday by the courts, which rejected two appeals.

"It's a betrayal. The basis of the order is not respectful of the law, of the freedom to demonstrate," anti-vaccine and "yellow vest" activist Sophie Tissier told AFP.

The prime minister defended the clampdown.

"The right to demonstrate and to have an opinion are a constitutionally guaranteed right in our republic and in our democracy. The right to block others or to prevent coming and going is not," he said.

From Paris, some of the protesters plan to travel on to Brussels for a "European convergence" of protesters planned there for Monday.

Phil, a 58-year-old on his way by truck from Brittany, said his refusal to get vaccinated had created "upheaval" in his family and work relations.

"When you join a demonstration you feel less alone," he told AFP.

burs-ao/cb/har

Police fire tear gas as anti-restrictions "Freedom Convoy" enters Paris


By Antony Paone and Leigh Thomas

Reuters

PARIS (Reuters) -French police fired tear gas at demonstrators on the Champs-Elysees avenue and other places in Paris on Saturday after a "Freedom Convoy" protesting against COVID-19 restrictions made it into the capital.


© Reuters/BENOIT TESSIERFrench "Freedom Convoy" arrives in Paris

Vehicles carrying protesters managed to get through police checkpoints in central Paris to snarl traffic around the Arc de Triomphe monument.

Inspired by horn-blaring "Freedom Convoy" demonstrations in Canada, motorists waved French flags and honked in defiance of a police order not to enter the city.

Police also threw tear gas grenades to disperse protestors, who are against a vaccine pass required to enter many public places, near the Arc de Triomphe and sprayed demonstrators in a separate march on the other side of the city.


© Reuters/BENOIT TESSIER French "Freedom Convoy" arrives in Paris

"The vaccine pass is necessary to be able to work or play sports. We can't stand the vaccine pass any more," said Nathalie Galdeano who came from southwest France by bus to participate in the protests.


© Reuters/BENOIT TESSIERFrench "Freedom Convoy" arrives in Paris

"We don't want this injection, we want to have the right to choose," she told Reuters.

Police said that they had arrested 14 people, handed out 337 tickets by mid-afternoon and earlier had stopped 500 vehicles in the morning that were trying to get into Paris.

Meanwhile, 2,000-3,000 people, including some "Yellow Vest" protesters, marched in a separate, authorised demonstration in Paris against COVID-19 restrictions as well as declining standards of living amid surging inflation.

Less than two months from a presidential election, President Emmanuel Macron's government is eager to keep protests from spiralling into large-scale demonstrations like the anti-government "Yellow Vest" protests of 2018.

Separately police also said they had arrested five protesters in southern Paris in possession of sling shots, hammers, knives and gas masks.

Police had mobilised more than 7,000 officers, set up checkpoints and deployed armoured personnel carriers and water cannon trucks in preparation for the protests.


© Reuters/BENOIT TESSIERFrench "Freedom Convoy" arrives in Paris

Canadian truckers protesting a vaccine mandate for trans-border traffic have paralysed parts of the capital Ottawa https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/how-ottawas-anti-vaccine-mandate-protests-are-spreading-globally-2022-02-09 since late January and blocked U.S.-Canada crossing points.

The French protests are against rules requiring a vaccine pass to enter many public places and come after months of regular demonstrations against the pass in Paris and other cities.

The Yellow Vest movement which began as a protest against fuel taxes grew into a broader revolt that saw some of the worst street violence in decades and tested Macron's authority.

(Reporting by Leigh Thomas and Antony Paone; Additional reporting by Christian Lowe and Lucien Liberte; Editing by Andrew Heavens, Kirsten Donovan and Angus MacSwan)