Freedom Convoy Spreads Through Europe to France

Non-licensed private hire cab drivers, one waving a French flag, stage a protest in Paris
THOMAS SAMSON/AFP via Getty Images
Nathaniel Charles

Canadian-inspired freedom convoys have spread through Europe and now into France, where citizens are planning to stage their own vehicle led protest movement against coronavirus restrictions in Paris on Saturday.

A French group called “The Liberty Convoy” on Facebook is supporting the move and has already attracted over 300,000 members on the social media platform, although there is presently no indication from organisers or law enforcement how many may actually be physically involved in the convoy.

Some vehicles have already set off on Wednesday — many clad in the French Tricolor — and plan to drive through key French cities to rally support before arriving in Paris on the weekend of the 12th-13th for a large rally.

Unlike their Canadian counterparts — where this style of protest against restrictions originated — the organisers of this rally have not called for a blockade, likely because the French police are known to be more aggressive towards protestors, often using tear gas, water cannons and rubber bullets to break up groups.

The French liberty convoy organisers hope their protest will allow them to regain the “freedom” and “fundamental rights”, that they believe to have lost under French coronavirus restrictions, Euronews reports.

France, like many European nations, has had very strict coronavirus legislation and passed a self-described “vaccine pass” law in January which makes it mandatory for most individuals over the age of 15 to be fully vaccinated to access bars, restaurants, cultural venues, and interregional public transport.

Gérald Darmanin, France’s Minister of the Interior has warned the protestors that if they attempt to infringe of the “freedom” of other individuals and “block” “access to the capital”, then “the response of the State will be extremely firm if this is the case”. On Thursday, Paris Police said a convoy attempting to enter the city would be blocked, citing “risks of trouble to public order” and threatening prison sentences and driving bans.

France’s government has had somewhat of a hostile attitude to unjabbed individuals with French President Macron previously vowing to “piss off” the unvaccinated with new coronavirus restrictions.

The freedom convoys have already made their way over to Europe with dozens of cars blocking the streets in Finland’s capital of Helsinki last Friday for an anti-lockdown protest – despite the police attempting to hamstring the event by putting a ban on heavy goods vehicles in the city centre.

Protestors largely ignored the ban with reports surfacing of motor homes, cars, vans, and allegedly at least one mobile sauna, arriving in the city to participate in the demonstration.

The rally attendees were seen to be waving Finnish flags and remained for a number of hours before the police physically broke up the event and arrested around 55 people as well as towing a number of vehicles.

Freedom convoys have also taken place in the Netherlands where a convoy consisting of dozens of vehicles – including tractors, trucks and cars – formed in the Dutch city of Leeuwarden on the 30th of January to protest against lockdown measures in the Netherlands.

Anti-restrictions and vaccine-mandate convoy protestors were also seen in New Zealand’s capital of Wellington on Tuesday, where over a “thousand” protestors blocked the roads around New Zealand’s parliament, with a hardcore camping overnight in the parliament’s grounds and vowing to continue the protest “as long as it takes“.

 

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