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Associated Press
France: Thousands protest against vaccination, COVID passes
Anti-vaccine protester holds a placard during a rally in Paris, Saturday, July 17, 2021. Tens of thousands of people protested across France on Saturday against the government's latest measures to curb rising COVID-19 infections and drive up vaccinations in the country. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Anti-vaccine protesters march during a rally in Paris, Saturday, July 17, 2021. Tens of thousands of people protested across France on Saturday against the government's latest measures to curb rising COVID-19 infections and drive up vaccinations in the country. The Louvre museum in the background. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Anti-vaccine protester march with the French national flag during a rally in Paris, Saturday, July 17, 2021. Tens of thousands of people protested across France on Saturday against the government's latest measures to curb rising COVID-19 infections and drive up vaccinations in the country. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Anti-vaccine protesters hold placard that reads health dictatorship during a rally in Paris, Saturday, July 17, 2021. Tens of thousands of people protested across France on Saturday against the government's latest measures to curb rising COVID-19 infections and drive up vaccinations in the country. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Anti-vaccine protesters march with a banner that reads my health belongs to me during a rally in Paris, Saturday, July 17, 2021. Tens of thousands of people protested across France on Saturday against the government's latest measures to curb rising COVID-19 infections and drive up vaccinations in the country. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Nurses hold placards as they march during an anti-vaccine protest in Paris, Saturday, July 17, 2021. Tens of thousands of people protested across France on Saturday against the government's latest measures to curb rising COVID-19 infections and drive up vaccinations in the country. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Anti-vaccine protester dressed in the colors of the French national flag holds a placard that reads liberty during a rally in Paris, Saturday, July 17, 2021. Tens of thousands of people protested across France on Saturday against the government's latest measures to curb rising COVID-19 infections and drive up vaccinations in the country. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Anti-vaccine protesters hold placards that read attention danger vaccine anti-liberty during a rally in Paris, Saturday, July 17, 2021. Tens of thousands of people protested across France on Saturday against the government's latest measures to curb rising COVID-19 infections and drive up vaccinations in the country. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
A protester holds a placard during a demonstration against the health pass, in Lille, northern France, Saturday, July 17, 2021. France announced mandatory COVID-19 passes for access to restaurants, bars, shopping malls and many tourist spots, as well as trains and planes, as of July 21. The passes are available to anyone fully vaccinated, recently recovered or who has a recent negative test. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler)
Visitors enjoy the view from the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Friday, July 16, 2021. The Eiffel Tower is reopening Friday for the first time in nine months, just as France faces new virus rules aimed at taming the fast-spreading delta variant. The "Iron Lady" was ordered shut in October as France battled its second surge of the virus. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Anti-vaccine protester holds a placard that reads Macron your health pass into the toilet march during a rally in Paris, Saturday, July 17, 2021. Tens of thousands of people protested across France on Saturday against the government's latest measures to curb rising COVID-19 infections and drive up vaccinations in the country. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Nurses shout during an anti-vaccine protest in Paris, Saturday, July 17, 2021. Tens of thousands of people protested across France on Saturday against the government's latest measures to curb rising COVID-19 infections and drive up vaccinations in the country. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
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Virus Outbreak France Anti-Vaccine Protests
Nurses shout during an anti-vaccine protest in Paris, Saturday, July 17, 2021. Tens of thousands of people protested across France on Saturday against the government's latest measures to curb rising COVID-19 infections and drive up vaccinations in the country. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
CONSTANTIN GOUVY
Sat, July 17, 2021, 4:42 AM·4 min read
PARIS (AP) — Over 100,000 people protested across France on Saturday against the government’s latest measures to push people to get vaccinated and curb rising infections by the delta variant of the coronavirus.
In Paris, separate protest marches by the far-right and the far-left wound through different parts of the city. Demonstrations were also held in Strasbourg in the east, Lille in the north, Montpellier in the south and elsewhere.
Thousands of people answered calls to take to the streets by Florian Philippot, a fringe far-right politician and former right hand of Marine Le Pen who announced earlier this month that he would run in the 2022 presidential election. Gathered a stone’s throw away from the Louvre Museum, protesters chanted “Macron, clear off!”, “Freedom," and banged metal spoons on saucepans.
While Philippot has organized small but regular protests against the government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis, Saturday's demonstration drew a larger and more diverse crowd of people broadly disaffected with politics: yellow vest activists angry over perceived economic injustice, far-right supporters, medical staff and royalists.
They denounced the government’s decision on Monday to make vaccines compulsory for all health care workers, and to require a “health pass” proving people are fully vaccinated, have recently tested negative or recovered from the virus in order to access restaurants and other public venues. President Emmanuel Macron’s government is presenting a draft law Monday to enshrine the measures.
“I will never get vaccinated,” Bruno Auquier, a 53-year-old town councilor who lives on the outskirts of Paris. “People need to wake up,” he said, questioning the safety of the vaccine.
While France already requires several vaccinations to enter public school, Auquier pledged to take his two children out of school if the coronavirus vaccine became mandatory. “These new measures are the last straw,” Auquier said.
https://news.yahoo.com/france-allows-visitors-indian-made-094200320.html