Across France, more than 100 000 people demonstrated peacefully against the health pass. Thousands of opponents protested against the government’s new vaccination regulations in several major French cities.
On Saturday, July 17, protests were organized throughout France, after Emmanuel Macron announced the coercive health measures at the beginning of the week. Later this month, French citizens would need proof of Covid-19 “vaccination”, or a negative test, to access public transport, clubs, cafes, shops and supermarkets. Macron also stated that healthcare workers would face mandatory vaccination.
As in Greece and Italy, vaccination would become mandatory for health workers in France by September. The unvaccinated would be largely excluded from social life unless they meet the Covid recovery exception or get tested at their own expense every 48 hours.
The crowds were large, perhaps more than expected: In total, according to Le Monde, which consulted the figures of the Ministry of the Interior, nearly 114 000 people gathered in a little more than 130 parades throughout France. In Paris, in particular, two separate processions set off in the afternoon.
One, from the Palais-Royal to reach the Louvre, had a strong political connotation: it brought together the former number two of the National Front, Florian Philippot, the president of Debout La France, Nicolas Dupond-Aignan and the anti-vaccine lawyer Fabrice Di Vizio. At the end of the afternoon, Florian Philippot announced that his teams had counted more than 150 000 people.
This figure is clearly higher than that of the place Beauvau, and seems reinforced by the images of the parade.
Another parade of leftists took place, according to 20 Minutes, in the south of Paris, and brought together former figures of the Yellow Vests – like the well-known Jérôme Rodriguez. On the whole, in Paris as in the rest of the country, the demonstrations took place in calm, although France Bleu noted some small scuffles in Strasbourg.
Under a French draft law, customers and business owners would risk huge fines or even prison if they circumvent the new rules. As in France, the German state of Bavaria has said that only vaccinated people may be able to enter clubs later this year. The German government has however largely shut down Corona protests with arbitrary lockdown measures.
The French government maintains that the measures are essential to revive their vaccine campaign — which slowed to a trickle after 53 percent received their first shots. “We must move toward the vaccination of all French people, because it is the only way to return to normal life,” Macron said. Within hours of his threat, vaccination booking platforms registered a surge in appointments since the unvaccinated may soon need to pay for their incessant Coronavirus tests if they intend to leave their homes.
Despite the threat, many decided to push back against the Big Pharma onslaught: France is not the only country with active, visible and growing “vaccine” opponents. On Monday the Greek government announced they would be making Covid-19 shots mandatory for healthcare workers and nursing home staff. Protesters massed outside parliament under heavy police presence, calling on Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to resign. According to Reuters, some 40 percent of Greeks are fully vaccinated.
In the UK, thousands have protested against coercive decrees to force people to get the experimental jab.
“Covid passes” will soon be mandatory for service industries and large gatherings in Britain after parliament voted to force mandatory vaccination on care-home workers with 319-246 votes, and 80 abstentions. MPs from both main parties criticised the lack of time devoted to the bill as they were only given 90 minutes to read and discuss it before the vote. The bill included no impact study and the vast majority of MPs voted by proxy.
The European Union has been gearing up for digital Covid certificates, with scannable QR codes to prove vaccination. The certificates were designed with the primary goal of tracking movement across borders as well as internally.
In Israel the controversial “Green Pass” was abandoned after less than three months because the vast majority of citizens simply ignored it.
In the US, President Joe Biden accused the unvaccinated of “killing people“. Some US states have nevertheless explicitly banned vaccination mandates or passports.