Health anti-pass: nearly 160,000 demonstrators in France according to the Interior, the mobilization is declining – LCI

They promise to “never let it down”. In Paris, Montpellier, Marseille, Aix-en-Provence, Lille, Lyon and in nearly 200 places, thousands of opponents of the health pass once again marched in France on Saturday August 28, the seventh consecutive weekend of mobilization. At the end of the day, the Ministry of the Interior announced that it had counted nearly 160,000 demonstrators in the 222 processions identified across the country, including 14,500 in Paris. Last weekend, Beauvau with counted more than 175,000 demonstrators.

“Freedom”, “Resistance”, “stung or fired”, “angry firefighters” or “Hands off my Raoult”, could we read on the signs brandished by the demonstrators, who still denounce the vaccination obligation for certain professions and the establishment for three weeks of the health pass to access certain places such as restaurants and cinemas. The opposition is also now focusing on the vaccination of adolescents, proposed since this summer by the health authorities to deal with the Delta variant.

In Paris, the parade at the call of the President of the Patriots, Florian Philippot, had reached Place Fontenoy (7th arrondissement) in a calm atmosphere shortly after 4 p.m. Another parade, composed in particular of yellow vests, was held on the Place de la Bourse, also in the capital.

A few days before the start of the school year, the government expected a slight decline in mobilization, after the decline recorded in recent weeks. The authorities thus anticipated “between 140,000 and 180,000 demonstrators” nationwide, according to a police source, against 175,000 last week.

According to the Ministry of the Interior, 222 rallies gathered this Saturday 159,484 people. In detail, the 4 actions in Paris mobilized 14,500 participants. Elsewhere in France, the 218 actions brought together 144,984 participants, including 9,500 in Montpellier and 5,500 in Mulhouse.

According to the prefecture of Bouches-du-Rhône, 3,000 demonstrators were counted on Saturday in Marseille, and 2,000 in Aix-en-Provence. The demonstration in Marseille was marked by clashes at the prefecture level where a group of demonstrators tried to force a barrage of CRS. 13 police officers were injured, 3 arrests took place.

In all, 16 people were arrested, including 2 in Paris. 3 wounded among the police. Last week, 20 people were arrested and the week before, on August 14, there had been 217 rallies and 214,845 participants as well as 11 arrests.