Paris – Protests rise in France, No Vax and anti Green Pass protesters in Paris they besieged the center of the capital. In fact, the police intercepted at least 500 vehicles that tried to enter Paris, challenging the ban, to participate in the protests against the anti-Covid restrictions called “Convoy of freedom” and inspired by those of truck drivers in Canada.
According to police reports, several convoys were prevented from entering key thoroughfares in the city and fines were imposed on over 200 motorists. About 7,000 officers were deployed for the weekend protests: the police set up checkpoints, used troop transport vehicles and water cannons. So far the police blockade has seemed effective. This type of protests are not only shaking France: in the Netherlands dozens of trucks and other vehicles, from tractors to trailers arrived in The Hague this morning as part of a “freedom convoy” and blocked the entrance to the historic Parliament complex .
The tension rises
But it is in France that the heart of the protest is concentrated. Tensions and clashes are reported. The police intervened on the Champs-Elysées to disperse the demonstrators who managed to reach the center of Paris despite the bans. “No blockade will be tolerated,” the police had said, relaunching the prefect’s orders. The vehicles were blocked at various access points in the capital, but some demonstrators on foot reached the Champs-Elysées. So far they have been fined 337 people with a report, 44 those stopped. Tensions are also reported in place d’Italie. After some scuffles, the demonstrators of the “Convoy of freedom”, who came from all over France to protest against the green pass, were rejected and traffic on the Champs-Elysées returned to normal. Convoys of cars and vans blocked outside the capital, some demonstrators had managed to reach the Arc de Triomphe on foot, then tried to walk along the Champs-Elysées despite the Prefecture’s ban. The officers used tear gas, the area was briefly cordoned off but by mid-afternoon everything seems to be back under control.
Like the yellow vests: 14 arrests
Fourteen people were arrested, according to police reports. Among them also Jérôme Rodriguez, one of the leading figures of the “yellow vests”. Almost 7,200 policemen and gendarmes were deployed “to enforce the prohibitions on vehicle convoys”. Demonstrations were formed in different points of Paris, in particular under the Arc de Triomphe and in the Place d’Italie, where the first clashes with the police took place.
The chronicle of the day and the “breakthrough” of the customs belt
After spending the night on the outskirts of Paris, the “convoy of freedom”, made up of several opponents of the green pass from all over France, began to enter the capital to demonstrate despite the police ban. The agents, also lined up with armored vehicles, are determined – by order of the prefect Didier Lallement to prevent any blocking of traffic. Already in the morning 150 people were blocked and fined. The movement, much of which remained a hundred kilometers east of Paris tonight, is made up of all kinds of opponents of President Emmanuel Macron, yellow vests and anti-vat. The model is the protest movement that was formed in Canada and which paralyzes the capital Ottawa. A few hundred vehicles, campers, caravans, reached the périphérique, the ring road around Paris, around 10 am.
In Canada
The protest that started in Canada yesterday 11 February began to stop: a Canadian judge ordered the removal of the transport blocks on the border between Canada and the United States. Judge Geoffrey Marawetz has in fact granted the police permission to remove, even by force, the demonstrators who are blocking the trade corridors between the two countries. The injunction comes into force in the next few hours thus allowing demonstrators the possibility to demobilize voluntarily.
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