PARIS: 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-19 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.
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 unauthorized 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-19 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.
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-19 in a home test.
“There’s so much inconsistency and unfairness,” she said, 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 traveled 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 said 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,” he told the Ouest-France newspaper.
Nearly 7,200 officers equipped with armored vehicles and water cannon were deployed to keep the peace in Paris.
Police showed off their arsenal on Twitter, publishing photographs of loader tractors for the removal of barricades.
The convoys set out from Nice in the south, Lille and Vimy in the north, Strasbourg in the east and Chateaubourg in the west.
They are demanding the withdrawal of the government’s vaccine pass and more help with their energy bills.