In the Facebook and Telegram groups “Convoy France officiel”, each bringing together around 23,000 members on Monday, these activists are trying to organize a large-scale national action for “respect for freedoms and fundamental rights”. Six “convoys” of carpooling or individuals on board their own vehicles are announced from this Wednesday, February 9, departing in particular from Bayonne, Nice, Strasbourg or Cherbourg.
An initiative taken seriously
These demonstrators must rally Paris Friday evening, without any specific place of regrouping being mentioned. Some then call to join Brussels for a “European convergence” on Monday, February 14.
Is this a blocking action per se? “Everyone is free”, but Convoy France does not directly call for regrouping or blocking action, insisted on Sunday in a video chat Marisa, spokesperson for this new movement.
“This initiative is taken seriously by the authorities”, indicated a police source who announces “vigilance devices”. “However, the assessment of the potential threat is still the subject of analysis by the intelligence services, given the electoral context and the desire to play mimicry with the Canadian movement,” added this source.
Monday morning, a first convoy of around thirty demonstrators who were trying to reach the capital in their vehicles was intercepted between Essonne and Seine-et-Marne “calmly”, by the police. .
Violent actions or conviviality?
On the chats consulted, a few messages mentioned possible actions, in particular on the Paris ring road. But the majority of participants rather offered moments of conviviality through the distribution of meals or accommodation on the road.
In Canada, a protest movement initiated by truckers, for whom the vaccine is compulsory in order to cross the border with the United States, has paralyzed the capital Ottawa for more than a week.
In France, most of the participants in this French version of the movement are close to the mobilizations of “yellow vests” and want to find “a new way of expressing their general fed up”, beyond local demonstrations, indicated an organizer who requested anonymity. But it is not a mobilization of truck drivers, insisted this source.