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Going to repost as late in bread.
LATEST ON THE EUROPEON CONVOY AND THE FRENCH USING TERRORIST TACTICS DEPLOYED BY MACRON
https://www.rt.com/news/549225-freedom-convoy-covid-europe-protest/
13 Feb, 2022 15:42
HomeWorld News
Will ‘freedom convoys’ escalate further in Europe?
The situation with Canada-inspired trucker protests is particularly delicate in France because of the upcoming election
Paul Nuttall
Paul A. Nuttall is a historian, author and a former politician. He was a Member of the European Parliament between 2009 and 2019 and was a prominent campaigner for Brexit
The ‘Freedom Convoy’ has well and truly arrived in Europe. Inspired by the protests in Canada, those opposed to mask mandates and Covid passports have descended on Paris and caused a day of disruption on Saturday, resulting in tear gas being fired and over 50 arrests. The protesters now plan to move on to Brussels for an even larger Europe-wide demonstration.
Unlike in Canada, the authorities in France, which encounter regular protests, were more prepared. The French police made it clear that those found to be blocking roads would be fined 4,500 euro, and over 7,000 officers were deployed to strategic toll booths to prevent the truckers from entering the city. But this did not deter those determined to protest against President Emmanuel Macron’s Covid rules, which were brought into force in January. Indeed, convoys travelled from as far as Toulouse, Le Mans, Nice, and other cities, to converge on Paris.
Although the French police claimed that they had prevented at least 500 vehicles from entering the city and had handed out 300 fines, around 3,000 vehicles of the ‘Freedom Convoy’ managed to make it into the centre of Paris and block the Champs Elysees.
But in the grand scheme of things, what does this all mean? There can be no doubt that a sizeable portion of Europeans are frustrated by the restrictive Covid policies of their governments, and some are prepared to act. The situation, however, is politically more delicate in France than anywhere else, as the presidential election is due to take place in April.
That alone helps explain why President Macron has been relatively restrained in his denunciation of the protests, merely admitting that there was “fatigue” linked to the Covid outbreak and calling “for the utmost calm.” This represents a sharp change in tack from Macron, who only last month said that he wanted to “p**s off” those who refused the vaccination and were opposed to his Covid passport scheme. It seems now that he is getting his wish, he probably regrets his previous bravado.
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