Protesters took to the streets of France to oppose a law that would implement stricter restrictions on those who are unvaccinated against COVID-19
Thousands of protesters took to the streets of France across cities to oppose a law that would implement stricter restrictions on those who are unvaccinated against Coronavirus (COVID-19).
The largest single gathering was seen in Paris where people set off from near the Eiffel Tower. The protest was led by anti-European Union (E.U.) Presidential candidate – Florian Philippot.
This comes after Members in the National Assembly cleared the vaccine pass bill to the Upper House. The Senate is likely to pass it now.
People in the crowd shouted, “no to the vaccine” and “freedom for Djokovic”, referring to the case of world men’s tennis number one Novak Djokovic, who is fighting the Australian Government to compete unvaccinated in the Grand Slam Australian Open.
Some protestors carried banners which read, “it’s not the virus they want to control, it’s you.” The demonstrators were hoping to outstrip the 105,000 who hit the streets last weekend. People are against the President of France – Emmanuel Macron after he recently said in an interview that he wants to “piss off” the unvaccinated with new restrictions until they get vaccinated.
The demonstration was called by the French Nationalist Party – Les Patriotes (The Patriots), to protest against a bill that would transform France’s current COVID-19 health pass into a “Vaccine Pass”. This means that for accessing public places like restaurants, people will require a “Vaccine Pass”. As of now, people accessed the public places by keeping their health pass valid through negative COVID-19 test report. Going ahead, all the Government-issued health passed will be deactivated for thousands of people who have not taken the booster vaccination within 7 months of their first course of shots.
The Government has been trying hard to contain the spread of Omicron variant of COVID-19, which has hit the Europe hard. Meanwhile, in the Austrian capital of Vienna, the Government’s plan to introduce mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for all has come under renewed pressure as thousands of protesters took to the streets to rally against the move. People in Austria gather every weekend to protest against the vaccination. The Parliament is scheduled to vote next week on the issue, which has polarised the country as coronavirus cases surge.
As per a poll carried out by the magazine – Profil, 45% Austrians are in favour of compulsory vaccination and majority 55% oppose it.
