the Freedom Convoy is coming (or has already arrived) in Paris!

“Inspired” by the protest in Canada, thousands from all across France are descending on Paris tonight (Friday February 11) to voice opposition to the country’s COVID-19 vaccine and public health policies. From Lille in the North and Strasbourg in the East; from Nice, Bayonne and Perpignan in the South, organizers are claiming their goal is to peacefully voice opposition to infringement on their “freedom” and “fundamental rights.” There’s talk of heading to Brussels for a “European convergence” on Monday.

But measures have been put in place to “prevent the blocking of roads, issue fines and arrest those who break this ban,” said police headquarters in a statement. The ban will last over the weekend, from Friday until Monday. Over 7,200 police officers and armored vehicles have been deployed and anti-riot barricades erected on the Champs-Elysees and elsewhere.

The Paris police issued a reminder that obstructing traffic can be punished by a two-year prison sentence, a €4,500 fine, and other measures enabling vehicles to be impounded and driving licences suspended for up to 3 years.

“The organizer of a banned demonstration can be punished by six months’ imprisonment and a fine of €7,500,” the préfecture said, adding that those taking part could receive a fine of €135.

Here’s the logo of the Police Prefecture. Funny that it has the slogan “Liberty, Equality and Fraternity” written on it.

What isn’t clear, then, is what the vehicles will do once arrived in the nation’s capital. There won’t be large trucks like in Canada. I just watched the 8 pm news and they seem to be playing it down. Only a few minutes were dedicated to the “Freedom Convoy” (le convoi de la liberté) before moving on to the Russian standoff in Ukraine, the number one focus of attention right now here in Europe.

 
 

 

5 thoughts on “the Freedom Convoy is coming (or has already arrived) in Paris!

  1. On the eve of a possible ground war in continental Europe, I find these protesters a bit misguided. If they wish to be on the streets of Paris, may I suggest a very long moment of silence to honor a *real freedom fighter* – Marie-Claire Chevalier, who died last month. Read it carefully. Here’s a link to the New York Times obituary:

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s