Paris police fired teargas on the Champs-Elysées avenue, arrested 14 people and issued hundreds of fines on Saturday to break up a convoy of vehicles that tried to block traffic in a protest over Covid restrictions and rising living costs.
Inspired by the truckers that shut down the Canadian capital Ottawa, thousands of demonstrators from across France made their way to Paris in a self-proclaimed "freedom convoy" of cars, trucks and vans.
The police, which had banned the protest, moved quickly to try to clear the cars at entry points to the city.
The prefecture said it had made 14 arrests and issued 337 tickets by mid-afternoon for participation in an unathorised protest. 500 vehicles that were trying to get into Paris on Saturday morning had been stopped, it said.
But over 100 vehicles managed to converge on the Champs-Elysees avenue, where police used teargas to disperse protesters in scenes reminiscent of the "Yellow Vest" anti-government riots of 2018-2019.
Les capsules de gaz lacrymogènes atterrissent à l’intérieur d’un café. #ChampsElysees #convoisdelaliberte pic.twitter.com/4oqujumrE7
— Remy Buisine (@RemyBuisine) February 12, 2022
Meanwhile, 2,000-3,000 people, including the well-known "Yellow Vest" protester Jérôme Rodriguez, marched in a separate demonstration in Paris against Covid-19 restrictions and declining standards of living.
Police said Rodriguez had been arrested for "organising an unauthorised demonstration".
Unfair
The demonstrators oppose the Covid vaccine pass which is required to access many public venues. But some are also taking aim at rising energy and food prices.
Aurelie M., a 42-year-old administrative assistant in a Parisian company, complained that the health pass meant she could no longer take a long-distance TGV train even if she tested negative for Covid in a home test.
"There's so much inconsistency and unfairness," she told AFP, noting that commuters could still cram onto a crowded Paris metro without proof of vaccination.
Jean-Paul Lavigne, a 65-year-old factory worker, said he travelled across the country from the southwestern town of Albi to protest fuel, food and electricity price hikes as well as the pressure on people to get vaccinated.
"People need to see us, and to listen to the people who just want to live a normal and free life," said Lisa, a 62-year-old retired health worker travelling in the Chateaubourg convoy, who did not want to give her surname.
Banned convoy
Paris police banned the gathering saying it posed a threat to public order and warned that protesters who tried to block roads would face fines or arrest.
The order prohibiting the assembly of convoys was upheld on Friday by the courts, which rejected two appeals.
"It's a betrayal. The basis of the order is not respectful of the law, of the freedom to demonstrate," anti-vaccine and "yellow vest" activist Sophie Tissier told AFP.
- Why spending power holds the key to winning France’s presidential election
- Macron no longer ‘president of all the French’ after rejecting the unvaccinated
Nearly 7,200 officers equipped with armoured vehicles and water cannon were deployed to keep the peace in Paris.
Prime Minister Jean Castex defended the clampdown.
"The right to demonstrate and to have an opinion are a constitutionally guaranteed right in our republic and in our democracy. The right to block others or to prevent coming and going is not," he said.
'Fatigue leads to anger'
The demonstrations come two months ahead of presidential elections, in which President Emmanuel Macron is expected to seek re-election.
On Friday, the centrist French leader said he understood the "fatigue" linked to the Covid-19 pandemic.
"This fatigue also leads to anger. I understand it and I respect it. But I call for the utmost calm," he told the Ouest-France newspaper.
That message was not heard.
Some of the protesters plan to travel on from Paris to Brussels for a "European convergence" of protesters planned there for Monday.
(with AFP)
