With 100,000 people recorded, the anti-vaccine pass demonstrations experienced a real resurgence of participation, a few days after Emmanuel Macron’s sentence against the unvaccinated
Several demonstrations against the vaccine pass project took place this Saturday, January 8 across France, most often in calm and with a strong mobilization, a few days after the controversial statements of Emmanuel Macron on the non-vaccinated he wants to “piss off”. In all, 105,200 demonstrators took to the streets according to the count of the Ministry of the Interior.
In Paris, 18,000 demonstrators and three processions, including a few thousand people gathered at the call of the Patriots of the pro-Frexit presidential candidate Florian Philippot. They left in the rain from the Place du Palais Royal around 3 p.m., heading for Place Vauban.
The former right-hand man of Marine Le Pen denounced “the country of tyranny, of segregation, where millions of people are set apart”. In the crowd, a 57-year-old librarian, declaring herself close to the ideas of La France Insoumise and environmentalists, said she was “disturbed” by the person of Florian Philippot. But she wanted to protest against “the pass which becomes a disguised vaccination obligation”.
In Toulouse and Montpellier, clashes between demonstrators and the police have punctuated the demonstrations, the latter using tear gas canisters.
In the southwest
In Bordeaux, the demonstration brought together around 2,000 people. At the end of 2021, the demonstrators were only about 300 in the processions.
The procession in Bordeaux
Laurent Theillet / “South West”
In Pau, the demonstration experienced a resurgence, with 1,200 people identified by the police, despite the rain. Six times fewer protesters last week.
In Charente-Maritime too, the mobilization of anti-pass is also gaining momentum. In La Rochelle, the procession was made up of between 1,500 and 2,000 demonstrators, gathered in the forecourt of the Aquarium. At the end of 2021, the demonstrations peaked at 300 participants. This Saturday they were also close to 400 in Saintes and 140 in Royan.
Placing of a commemorative plaque on the gates of Saint-Front cathedral in Périgueux, in support of the hunger strikers opposed to the sanitary pass.
Philippe Greiller / SOUTH WEST
In Périgueux they were 650 to march according to the police, a thousand according to the organizers. Here too, the revival is significant: at the end of 2021, the participation was three times less important. A plaque was hung on the gates of the cathedral to the glory of the Perigord hunger strikers opposed to the sanitary pass. In Bergerac, 140 demonstrators marched.
In Agen as elsewhere, the mobilization has increased, with a few hundred demonstrators, unlike the last few weeks when the ranks were very sparse.
In the streets of Bayonne.
Nicolas Mollo / SOUTH WEST
Slogans in the news
In the processions, the signs of the demonstrators and chanted slogans were indicative of the points of tension of the week. “Stop the health coup”, “broken confidence”, “Manu, we shit” or even “fuck the bitch” have thus punctuated the demonstrations, in response in particular to “the unvaccinated, j ‘I want to piss them off ”by Emmanuel Macron.
A protester on the forecourt of the La Rochelle aquarium.
Jean-Christophe Sounalet / SOUTH WEST
Another point of tension is the complicated situation in schools, where the new health protocol is not well accepted. In response, the slogan “let our children breathe”, which was displayed especially in La Rochelle.
As a reminder, France this week broke contamination records, with 328,214 cases recorded on Friday.