On Wednesday, police in Paris used tear gas to disperse 19,000 protesters protesting new coronavirus restrictions across the country.
Some of the protests began in the morning in Paris, as President Emmanuel Macron watched the yearly military march for the traditional Bastille Day procession down the renowned Champs-Elysees.
The demonstrators are angry about a decision made on Monday to require health personnel to get vaccinated and carry a vaccine health pass with them in most public locations.
Unvaccinated people would need a negative test result to enter restaurants, for example.
Since the news, a record number of French citizens have scheduled Covid-19 vaccinations.
Some of the demonstrators shouted, “This is in the name of freedom.”
To disperse the gathering in one area of the French capital, authorities used tear gas.
The prefecture of police-reported in a tweet that the declared protest path was not followed, and that participants were “throwing missiles” and igniting fires.
Around 2,250 people demonstrated in Paris, with similar protests taking place in Toulouse, Bordeaux, Montpelier, Nantes, and other cities. The overall number of demonstrators, according to the French authorities, is estimated to be around 19,000 people.
According to the interior ministry, there were 53 distinct rallies around France.
