- Title: Thousands protest COVID health pass in Paris
- Date: 24th July 2021
- Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (JULY 24, 2021) (REUTERS) PROTESTERS WITH FRENCH FLAGS ON TROCADERO SQUARE WITH EIFFEL TOWER IN BACKGROUND PROTESTERS WALKING THROUGH CROWD WITH BANNER READING (French): "Yvelines (French department) for freedoms" PROTESTER HOLDING SIGN READING (French and English): "Freedom Stop the dictatorship" FRENCH FLAGS OVER CROWD PROTESTERS LISTENING TO SPEECH (SOUNDB
- Embargoed: 7th August 2021 18:33
- Keywords: COVID-19 Paris Yellow vests health pass protest
- Location: PARIS, FRANCE
- City: PARIS, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Topics: Europe,Health/Medicine
- Reuters ID: LVA001EN79R2F
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Thousands took to the streets in Paris to protest the implementation of a health pass that is being debated in the French Senate on Saturday (July 24).
Several protests took place simultaneously in the French capital with the Yellow Vests organising three marches and with the far right 'Les Patriotes' movement organising a gathering and speeches near the Eiffel Tower.
"We must make ourselves heard. When we reach such a situation, I think the people needs to act," Christine, a 55-year-old health worker who had only protested twice before in her life, told Reuters. "We can't let things like that happen. There is a point where you have to wake up to the discrimination."
Public anger at government measures to curb the spread of COVID-19, which some people say are an attack on their liberty, has given the infamous Yellow Vests, that two years ago challenged President Emmanuel Macron's rule, fresh momentum.
"I came here because I think this is where the people is, there are no political orientations here, there is no political misrepresentation," said Isabelle, a civil servant who attended one of the Yellow Vests demonstration, in Paris' Bastille Square.
French anti-riot police fired tear gas as brief clashes erupted when protesters reached the Champs Elysees and the Gare Saint-Lazare railway station.
Across France, protests were planned in cities including Marseille, Montpellier, Nantes and Toulouse.
An official with France's interior ministry said 161,000 people had demonstrated across the country on Saturday, up from 114,000 a week earlier.
French lawmakers are due to vote this weekend on a bill drafted by the government aimed at setting up a health pass and mandatory vaccination for health workers.
Daily cases of COVID-19 have rocketed in France to almost 22,000 from 10,908 on July 16.
(Production: Clotaire Achi, Manuel Ausloos) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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