Several rally points are planned this Friday in Nancy and Metz. A hundred vehicles will arrive at the parking lot of the Sapinière in Laxou (54) as well as in Semécourt (57) before heading to Paris.
They left from different cities of the Grand Est to connect Nancy and Metz. A few hundred cars and motorcycles converged on the parking lot of the Sapinière in Laxou, this Friday around noon.
Draped in tricolor flags, carrying signs hostile to Emmanuel Macron, several hundred people say they have decided to demonstrate on Saturday in Paris. And, for some, in Brussels on Monday. The atmosphere is good-natured, they talk about “freeing the country” from the Macron yoke, they refuse the Vaccine Pass, the unbearable barriers to freedom.
“I’m going to demonstrate in Paris not for myself, but for my children,” explains Jean-Marie B., biting into a huge sandwich. “We can’t stand all these constraints, the increase in prices, the misery that spreads like wildfire while, at the same time, the rich get fat in a shameful way. We are fed up with this two-tier France. We want to live in a country where Liberty, Equality and Fraternity still make sense.
7800 police and gendarmes
Despite the threats of the police prefect Didier Lallement who gave strict instructions to the police to prevent the blocking of the capital, the demonstrators want to march on Paris on Saturday.
“Nothing will prevent us from getting there,” adds Martine, a tricolored cap on her head. “We are pacifists, not rioters. No need to send us the CRS. We want the authorities to abolish the vaccination pass, as many countries do, since the health crisis no longer justifies it. We want our children to take off their masks at school. This is freedom. That’s what we’re demanding.”
Certainly, the 7800 police officers deployed in the capital are likely to slow down the ardor of the demonstrators. Large lifting equipment (cranes, trucks, etc.) are planned to clear the roads, if necessary.
But the confrontation between the forces of order and demonstrators is not impossible. In Paris on Saturday and in Brussels on Monday.
To be continued.
? The Prefecture of Police of Paris prohibits the demonstrations of the freedom convoy in the capital. #ConvoidelaLiberte #convoypourlaliberte pic.twitter.com/4Y8sUrVtx7
— Anonymous Citizen (@AnonymousCitizen) February 10, 2022