The police prefecture has decided to prohibit the demonstrations in Paris, from Friday to Monday, while gatherings of vehicles left across the country plan to block the capital to demonstrate in particular against the health restrictions.
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Show comprehension, for the sake of appeasement, or denigrate them, to better marginalize them? The faithful of Emmanuel Macron seek the right tone against the “convoys of freedom”, these gatherings of vehicles part of the whole country to denounce the sanitary restrictions, which plan to rally Paris from Friday, February 11, in the hope of blocking the capital this weekend. Officially, the executive says “not to fear” this citizen action, inspired by Canadian roads that block the Capital Ottawa for nearly two weeks.
But two years after the beginning of the epidemic and two months of the presidential election, “vigilance” remains to deal with this protean movement, which aggregates as many opponents of vaccination and “yellow vests “, or French wishing to manifest their distress to the decline in their purchasing power, on the background of soaring energy prices. An anger patchwork, complicated to apprehend. And facing the head of state does not know how to position themselves. “There are sincere people with whom we must continue to discuss. On the other hand, those who live in parallel worlds, the compotential movement, it is not,” explains a close to Mr. Macron. Hence the double speech of the executive.
Wednesday 9 February, the spokesman of the Government, Gabriel Attal, mainly attempted to show upsulus, recognizing the “lassitude” of the French in the face of “measures that continue to apply” within the framework of the COVID-19 crisis. The government is “lucid” and “perfectly aware” that many citizens “are tired of living with this virus,” he said at the end of the Council of Ministers. If he lamented that “as everywhere in the world, political movements, often radical, sought to capitalize on this weariness”, Mr. Attal has also endeavored to counter the slogans denouncing a supposed “health dictatorship”. “France is probably one of the countries of Europe which has taken the least binding measures, which hinder the freedom of its fellow citizens,” he said, by evoking the lifting of the vaccinal pass proposed for the end of March or In early April.
Firmness line
In addition, a second stage of restrictions remains scheduled for February 16, and a new lightening of the health protocol for schools is preparing for 21 February. What makes the situation French hardly comparable with Canada, according to the spokesperson for the Republic (LRM), Roland Lescure. “The constraints are much higher there than at home. And in France, we are in a phase of restrictions”, observes the member for the French of North America.
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