French police on alert as ‘freedom convoy’ protesters approach Paris

Thousands of protesters opposing COVID-19 rules in France have set up camps outside Paris, resuming their move towards the French capital in convoys of vehicles, ignoring an official ban against the effort.

Inspired by Canadian truckers paralyzing border traffic with the US, the French protesters -- including anti-coronavirus vaccination activists, as well as people enraged over fast-rising energy prices – who had parked their vehicles near the city of Chartres, some 80 kilometers from Paris, left about 5:00 am on Saturday to head towards the capital, local press reports said citing messages communicated between protest participants.

The aim was to "create a mass of vehicles that the forces of order would find impossible to contain," according to the messages, one of which further emphasized, "Faced with several thousand vehicles capable of stopping or being on the move," the police would not be able to do much.

Hundreds of cars, motor homes and vans from different cities such as Lille, Strasbourg, Chateaubourg stopped Friday evening at the gates of Paris, with their occupants demanding a withdrawal of the government's vaccine pass -- which is required for access to many public spaces -- and more help with their energy bills.

Police estimated 3,300 vehicles were involved in the various convoys by Friday afternoon.

Paris police banned the gathering because of feared "public order disturbances" and said protesters who tried to block roads would face fines or arrest.

The protest effort came as French authorities expressed their determination to prevent any blockade of the city, with Paris police headquarters declaring that nearly 7,200 police and gendarmes "are being deployed over the next three days to enforce the ban on vehicle convoys."

One notable feature of the Canadian government's reaction to the still on-going anti-vaccination protest move is its effort to demonize the protest movement, describing it in disparaging terms as disruptive, hateful and thuggish even as the protests have been largely peaceful.

Canadian protesters refuse to end US border blockade as sit-ins spread

Canadian protesters against the government’s coronavirus restrictions and vaccine mandates have defied an injunction order to end a protracted blockade that has disrupted North America’s busiest land border crossing.

French authorities are already taking such a line against the protests.

The Canadian and French governments, meanwhile, are infamous for their interference in other countries' internal affairs, often backing violent riots in nations that they do not regard as friendly.

Just two months ahead of presidential elections and with the government desperate to avoid violent scenes in the capital, French President Emmanuel Macron proclaimed on Friday that he understood the "fatigue" linked to the Covid-19 pandemic.

"This fatigue also leads to anger. I understand it and I respect it. But I call for the utmost calm," Macron asserted in an interview with the Ouest-France daily.

His remarks came nearly five weeks after he generated major furor after insisting that his government’s COVID vaccination strategy was aimed at “annoying” the unvaccinated and ardently making life more difficult for them.

Backlash after Macron says his COVID strategy aims to ‘annoy’ the unvaccinated

French President Emmanuel Macron has generated major furor after insisting his government’s COVID vaccination strategy was aimed at “annoying” the unvaccinated and ardently making life harder for them.

“I am not about annoying the French people, but as for the non-vaccinated, I really want to annoy them,” Macron declared on January 4 during an interview with the local Le Parisien daily.

“And we will continue to do this, to the end. This is the strategy,” he further emphasized as he tried to warn that he intends to make life harder for people who are not yet vaccinated.

“In a democracy, the worst enemies are lies and stupidity,” Macron emphasized. “We are putting pressure on the unvaccinated by limiting, as much as possible, their access to activities in social life.”

Meanwhile, the prefect of the Paris police, Didier Lallement, further announced that police forces had created a temporary car pound which, together with dozens of tow trucks, "will ... put an end to any blockage."

Police also showed off their anti-blockage arsenal on Twitter, publishing photographs of loader tractors for the removal of barricades as well as trucks equipped with cranes or water cannon.

This is while gendarmerie armored vehicles were also deployed in the streets of Paris for the first time since the "yellow vest" protests at the end of 2018.

Vowing to remain steadfast, France’s Prime Minister Jean Castex said, "If they block traffic or if they try to block the capital, we must be very firm about this."

"People need to see us, and to listen to the people who just want to live a normal and free life," said a 62-year-old retired health worker who joined a convoy of more than 1,000 vehicles leaving Chateaubourg in the western Brittany region early Friday, as quoted in local news reports.

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," said another anti-vaccine and "yellow vest" activist as quoted in the local press.

New vaccine pass causes political chaos in France

Strikes, protests and parliamentary disunity have shown that opposition to President Emmanuel Macron’s pandemic policies have reached unprecedented levels.

"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," the French prime minister insisted, however.

According to local news outlets, some participants in the French protest move plan to travel on to Brussels for a "European convergence" of protesters planned there for Monday.

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