New protests as France set to implement Macron's health pass
Protesters took to the streets across France on Saturday for the
fourth weekend in a row to rally against a new health pass needed to
enter a cafe or travel on an inter-city train, two days before the new
rules come into force.
The new rules championed by President
Emmanuel Macron make it obligatory to have either a full course of
vaccination against Covid-19, be in possession of a negative test or be
recently recovered from the virus to enjoy usually routine activities.
Macron,
who faces re-election next year, hopes the new rules will encourage all
French to be vaccinated against Covid-19 and defeat the virus and its
fast-spreading Delta variant.
But
opponents, who have turned out en masse in the streets in the past
weeks, argue that the rules encroach on civil liberties in a country
where individual freedom is prized.
From Monday, the health pass
will be needed to eat in a restaurant or enjoy a drink in a cafe both
indoors and on a terrace. It will be obligatory on inter-city transport
including high-speed trains and domestic flights although will not be
needed on metro systems and suburban transport.
The pass has
already been required since July 21 to visit cultural venues such as
cinemas, theatres and museums. Its extension was approved by France's
Constitutional Council on Thursday.
In one of several protests
planned in Paris alone, hundreds began gathering at Pont de Neuilly
metro station on the outskirts for a march to the centre, chanting
"freedom!" and "no to the health pass".
Wearing a mask, Alexandre Fourez, 34, said he was protesting for the
first time and that he had himself recovered from Covid. "The problem
with the health pass is that our hand is being forced," said the
marketing employee, adding he "really has difficulty believing its use
will be temporary".
Other protests were planned later in the
afternoon across the country including Lille in the northeast and Toulon
on the Mediterranean coast.
- 'Get vaccinated' -
The
interior ministry said over 200,000 people turned out last weekend and
more than 160,000 the weekend before for the protests. Police do not
expect the numbers to decrease this weekend.
Although many of the
protesters are among those refusing to be vaccinated, some have taken
the jabs but object to the principle of the health pass.
Government
spokesman Gabriel Attal said that the pass, which under current rules
will be required until November 15, was needed to avoid further
restrictions as the country fights the fourth wave of the Covid-19
epidemic.
"It is an additional constraint but a constraint that
will allow places to stay open," he said, while emphasising that there
would be a one week "grace period" for consumers and businesses to get
used to the new rules.
Macron, who is still at his holiday residence in the south of France,
has in recent days repeatedly taken to the social media platform Tik
Tok, popular among young people, to get his message across.
"Get
vaccinated. Get vaccinated. Get vaccinated," Macron said in the latest
video Friday. "It's a question of being a good citizen... our freedom is
worth nothing if we infect our friends, neighbours or grandparents. To
be free is to be responsible."
"It is a perilous strategy. Playing with the street is to play with fire," it said.
