French police warned Thursday that they would prevent so-called “freedom convoys” from blocking roads in Paris, of a possible standoff ahead with protest inspired by truckers who have paralysed the Canadian capital Ottawa.
Convoys of vehicles from across France are expected to converge on the French capital on Friday, with anger over coronavirus restrictions high on their agenda as well as concerns over the rising cost of living due to high energy prices.
The French movement echoes the violent “yellow vest” protests against social inequality that rocked the country in 2018 and brought France to a partial standstill at weekends.
A repeat of the “yellow vests” would be highly unwelcome for President Emmanuel Macron as he prepares for April 2022 elections he remains favorite to win.
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“There will be a special deployment… to prevent blockages of major roads, issue tickets and arrest those who infringe on this protest ban,” the Paris police force said in a statement.
Police chief Didier Lallement had “ordered officers to be rigorous” with infringers, it added.
The city’s ban order will remain in force from Friday to Monday, while police recalled that people blocking roads faced up to two years in prison, a fine of 4,500 euros ($5,140) and a three-year exclusion from driving.
With some participants planning to continue on to Belgian and European Union capital Brussels on Monday, mayor Philippe Close said it too would ban the vehicular demonstrations as no-one had applied for a permit.
“Measures have been taken to prevent the blockade of the Brussels region,” Close wrote on Twitter.
‘Make our voices heard’
Nevertheless, “we’ll be heading to the capital whatever happens,” rubbish collector Adrien Wonner, who was planning to set off from Normandy, told AFP.
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The 27-year-old, a past “yellow vests” protester, added that demonstrators wanted “to make our voices heard” but “not to blockade” Paris.
Remi Monde, one of the most prominent social media backers of the convoys, told AFP that their top demand was “withdrawal of the health pass and all the measures that compel or pressure people to get vaccinated”.
He said that participants also want steps to support purchasing power and contain energy costs.
After conventional demonstrations failed to achieve results, “we want to try something else, and see what the government’s response will be to joyous, pacifist people,” he added.
The movement is “far from having a solid structure” but “this especially media-friendly new form of action could give new momentum to different protest groups,” a police report seen by broadcaster RTL and newspaper Le Parisien said earlier this week.
Vaccine pass ‘aberration’
Eyhande Abeberry, 52, told AFP that the vaccine pass was “an aberration” at the Wednesday send-off for one of the convoys in the southern French city of Bayonne.
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But as in Ottawa, where truckers’ two-week blockade of central Ottawa over testing and vaccine requirements for crossing the border with the US has broadened from the issues that first triggered it, purchasing power and energy costs have motivated some French participants.
Those were also at the root of the “yellow vests” demonstrations.
With an election first round coming on April 10, Macron’s government has already mobilized billions of euros to limit the impact on households of surging gas and petrol prices.
Far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen said that she “understood” the’ goals, saying that it was “another form of the yellow vests” demonstrations.
In a nod to public impatience ahead of the elections with France’s tough Covid rules, Attal also indicated that the country may be in a position to drop its obligatory vaccine pass in late March or early April as cases fall.
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