Coronavirus, France | Over 200,000 protested against corona passports in France

The Interior Ministry estimates that around 204,000 people took part in around 180 demonstrations across the country on Saturday, French media reported.

This is the third weekend in a row of street protests against the so-called corona pass, which may be required for access to restaurants and trains, among other things.

A police and security force of around 3,000 people was deployed in Paris in case the protests were to degenerate into riots.

There were at least four different demonstrations in the French capital, and at the famous nightclub Moulin Rouge there were confrontations with the police during what was apparently the biggest protest. Rebel police used their fists on several occasions and fired tear gas into the crowd as it moved. A male protester was bleeding from his head in the chaos.

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The majority is positive

There were also demonstrations in several other French cities against the authorities’ corona passports, which are being introduced at a time when infections and hospitalizations are rising sharply.

The National Assembly has passed a law that allows the corona passport to be introduced on 9 August after it has been approved by the French Constitutional Council. Two doses of vaccine, a negative rapid test or a recent coronary infection give a valid passport.

Opinion polls show that a majority in the country supports the scheme, but others are strongly opposed.

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Nurse protests

One week ago, an estimated 160,000 people attended demonstrations against compulsory vaccination of health workers and the extension of the coronary passport system in France.

Nurse Hager Ameur (37) says she has quit her job and accuses the authorities of blackmail.

– I do not think we should be told what we have to do, says Ameur, who believes that health workers were treated quite badly during the first corona wave.

– And now we are suddenly told that if we do not get vaccinated, it is our fault that people get infected. I think it is disgusting, says Ameur, who belongs to a minority of health workers in France who have not yet been vaccinated.

Vaccine on the beach

The government’s plans have also led many unvaccinated French citizens to get vaccinated to avoid being excluded from social life. In France, the coronary vaccine is now offered in a number of places outside vaccination centers, including some beaches.

Almost 62 percent of the French population has received at least one vaccine dose. At the same time, the infection increases as a result of the spread of the delta variant in the fourth wave of infection. On Friday, 24,000 new cases of infection were reported, compared with just a few thousand in early July.

France has so far in the pandemic registered over 111,000 corona-related deaths.

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