Paris has banned so-called Freedom Convoy protests planned for Friday, as lorry drivers head to the city.
Canada's capital city Ottawa has been paralysed for days by truckers objecting to Covid-19 measures there.
Convoys from towns and cities around France have started making their way to Paris to copy that protest.
Police
have banned the demonstrations, reminding people that interfering with
the roads can carry a two-year prison sentence or a €4,500 (£3,800)
fine.
Ottawa
has been put into a state of emergency over its protests, which saw
truckers blockade the streets to protest against rules requiring
vaccination to cross the US-Canada border. The group has been swelled by
some far-right groups over the past two weeks, and there have been two
dozen arrests and dozens more criminal cases opened.
In
France, protesters are opposed to the vaccination pass required to
enter restaurants, bars and public spaces, rather than any border
issues.
But
the risk of similar disturbances to public order in Paris was one
reason for banning the protests there, police said. The ban runs from
Friday to Monday.
Motorways
leading into Paris will have extra police patrolling them. Drivers
blocking the free flow of traffic could have their driving licence
suspended or penalty points added to their licence on top of the threat
of prison and large fines.
The
French protesters are organising online and appear to come from various
political and ideological backgrounds. That makes it difficult to
establish how many vehicles will make the real-world journey to Paris on
Friday.
But
some online groups have tens of thousands of members, and French
newspaper Le Monde reports that several convoys have already left cities
such as Nice, Bayonne and Perpignan.
Some
of the groups plan to continue on to Brussels - headquarters of the EU
executive - on Monday to join up with a Europe-wide demonstration.
Officials
say the Covid pass restrictions prompting the French protests could be
removed in the next two months - before France's presidential election
in April.
