While thousands of people flocked to the gates of Paris this Saturday, where the prefecture banned all demonstrations this weekend, the “Freedom Convoy” also cut its way to the positions of the candidates for the presidential election. Inspired by the movement of the same name of Canadian truckers, standing up against the restrictions linked to the Covid-19 pandemic, it appears more protean in France. Mix pell-mell refractory to the health pass, “yellow vests”, opponents of the government, also a core of conspirators … But two months before the first round of the presidential election, with the backdrop of the outbreak energy prices and a rise in the cost of living, the aspirants to the Elysée – as well as current tenant – reacted to the protest movement.
“Convoy of Shame and Selfishness”
Within the executive, the tone is firm. Shaken for many months by the crisis of “yellow vests”, the president called for “the greatest calm”. In an interview at West FranceEmmanuel Macron said he knew that “we are all collectively tired of what we have been going through for two years […] And sometimes, this fatigue also translates into anger. I hear it and respect it”. A few hours earlier, Prime Minister Jean Castex adopted a firmer tone against a movement with demands “not always very clear”. He recalled that “the right to demonstrate and to have an opinion are a constitutionally guaranteed right in our Republic and in our democracy. The right to block others or to prevent coming and going is not.” The government spokesman warned against an “attempt to instrumentalize” political “Freedom Convoy “that Clément Beaune, Secretary of State for European Affairs, describes as a “convoy of shame and selfishness”.
The candidates or their relatives have also taken a position on this protest movement, the extent of which is still difficult to assess. Yannick Jadot (EELV) understands the reaction of the government: “I do not support this demonstration, on the other hand, I support the right to demonstrate, but I fully understand the State for not wanting Paris to be blocked”. For her part, Christiane Taubira (PRG-PS) “supports social movements, but not just any cause”.
“A mark of despair and fed up”
Marine Le Pen, for her part, “understands” the anger of the demonstrators. “Wild globalization, without regulation, makes our society pressure cookers”, remarks the RN candidate, before urging the protesters to vote in the presidential election. The boss of the Insoumis, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, sees him, a good eye this movement, finding there common sources with his own fights. “Here are people who get moving talking about purchasing power, I can’t be against that. Don’t think that they are driving at 2 euros per liter for pleasure”, he said Thursday evening on France 2. Before continuing: “They say they are against the vaccine pass, me too, I am not going to tell them they are wrong.” But before giving outright support, he prefers “to see how it all comes together”.
Philippe Poutou, candidate of the NPA (New Anti-Capitalist Party), hopes that it is a “rebound of the movement of “yellow vests” because nothing has been settled. The anger is still there […]. We also know that there is a good influence from the far right and from what are also called conspiracy theorists and confusionists”. On RMC, the Bordeaux city councilor estimated that “the role of left-wing activists is to ‘try to ensure that this movement does not have the wrong opponent’.
One of the most fervent supporters seems to be Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, the candidate for Debout la France. “The Freedom Convoys are a mark of despair and fed up and symbolize the spirit of resistance in the face of draconian and ineffective health harassment,” he wrote on Twitter.