A fourth Saturday of massive protests following the decision of the Constitutional Council to force vaccination and the carry of a health pass, was seen in France.
A total of 237 000 people took to the streets on Saturday, according to official information from the French Interior Ministry, but visuals from the marches attest to many more. President Macron could well face a million protesters by early September.
Eyewitnesses already spoke on Saturday evening of “several hundred thousand” demonstrators in the capital Paris alone. The CRS, mobile gendarmes and the Brigade for the Repression of Violent Action (BRAV) were spotted. A large police presence, with nearly 3000 officers and gendarmes alone were mobilized in the capital, similar to the numbers last weekend in Paris.
The Parisian demonstrators had to face difficult weather at the end of the afternoon, but even a hail storm could not dissuade them. Few incidents were noted. At 8 pm, eight people had been taken into police custody in Paris, including a minor.