In Paris, protesters and police clashed during a march against France's so-called health pass. The pass requires proof of vaccination against COVID-19 or a negative test to enter many public venues. And lawmakers are now debating making it even stricter, in the hope that it will persuade more people to get the jab. But the demonstrators say the measures breach their civil liberties.
The City of Light dissolved into a battleground, shrouded in clouds of tear gas, as police and protestors clashed over proposed COVID-19 restrictions. Rallies were held across Paris on Saturday against a bill being debated by lawmakers which passed its first reading the day before.
The new measures would require everyone in France to have a special virus pass to go to restaurants and other venues. It would also make vaccinations compulsory for health care workers. COVID-19 infections are spiking once more across France and hospital admissions are also on the increase.
The government has responded by speeding up its vaccination campaign to protect the most vulnerable and also avoid fresh lockdowns. Despite the threat of water cannon, protestors refuse to back down against the proposal for a nationwide coronavirus pass.
COVID-19: Macron calls for unity after anti-vaccine protests in France
Thousands of protesters gather at Place Trocadero near the Eiffel Tower attend a demonstration in Paris, France, Saturday July 24, 2021, against the COVID-19 pass which grants vaccinated individuals greater ease of access to venues. (AP Photo/Rafael Yaghobzadeh)25 Jul 2021 08:59PM
PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron appealed for national unity and mass vaccination to fight the resurgent virus, and lashed out at those fueling anti-vaccine sentiment and protests.
About 160,000 people protested around France on Saturday (Jul 24) against a special COVID-19 pass for restaurants and mandatory vaccinations for health workers. Many marchers shouted “liberty!” and said the government shouldn’t tell them what to do.
Visiting a hospital in French Polynesia on Saturday night Tahiti time, Macron asked, “What is your freedom worth if you say to me ‘I don’t want to be vaccinated’, but tomorrow you infect your father, your mother or myself?”
While he said protesters are “free to express themselves in a calm and respectful manner”, he said demonstrations won’t make the coronavirus go away.
Thousands of protesters gather at Place Trocadero near the Eiffel Tower attend a demonstration in Paris, France, Saturday July 24, 2021, against the COVID-19 pass which grants vaccinated individuals greater ease of access to venues. (AP Photo/Rafael Yaghobzadeh)“I want to make a call for unity,” he said. He criticised “people who are in the business of irrational, sometimes cynical, manipulative mobilisation” against vaccination.
Among those organising the protests have been far-right politicians and extremist members of France’s yellow vest movement tapping into anger at Macron’s government.
More than 111,000 people with the virus have died in France, which is registering about 20,000 new infections daily compared to just a few thousand earlier this month. Concerns for hospitals are resurfacing.
Overnight, lawmakers in the French Senate passed a bill allowing for the COVID-19 passes in all French restaurants and other venues and for obligatory vaccines for health workers. But they made so many changes to the version passed by the lower house that the Bill must now go to a joint committee later Sunday to try to find a compromise version.
Source: AP/ta
