"Liberty, freedom": thousands of people march against the health pass across France

Paris, Marseille, Aix, Dunkirk, Nice… Several tens of thousands of people demonstrated this Saturday against the health pass.

Grouped around the hashtags # manif24juillet, #PassDeLaHonte or # liberty on social networks, the opposition to government measures to fight Covid-19 unites anti-mask, anti-vaccine or anti-containment demonstrators with protean demands.

In Marseille, the gathering was full: thousands of people, all generations combined, marched in a good-natured atmosphere with cries of "Liberty, Liberty" or "Macron, your pass, we don't want it". Whistles, applause, raised fists, drums and dances, cries of joy to count so many in the procession which marched from the Old Port to the prefecture and where tricolor flags were floating, “Marseillaises” were sung under banners calling for respect for freedom of conscience.

In the procession, other demonstrators brandished signs questioning the safety of vaccines: "Neither guinea pig, nor pariah", "The bodies of our children delivered to the labs, you say yes?

".

“I am free to do whatever I want with my body.

We do not know these vaccines, we do not have enough perspective, ”explains Josy Leusard, 68, a retired accountant.

Read also First tensions in Paris during the demonstrations against the health pass: follow our direct

The demonstrators also number in the thousands in Paris, divided into at least three rallies this afternoon.

In Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, at least a dozen gatherings were planned, especially in Lyon, where a procession started its journey from Place Bellecour at 3 p.m.

In Annecy, the declared demonstration is coupled with a public gathering of exchanges and debates at the call of the organizers of the first demonstrations, from March, "for freedom", and without masks.

More than 100,000 demonstrators expected in France

In the Grand Est region, some 4,000 people demonstrate, according to the police. A few "white coats" in the procession, among them Elodie, a 34-year-old nurse's aide, denounces "the blackmail on caregivers sent to the front line" and that they are now "threatening" to "no longer pay" and "to fire. ". In Toulouse, the meeting was set at 2 pm in the city center, despite the ban "on any unreported protest rally" issued by the prefecture.

In Aix (Bouches-du-Rhône), Dunkirk (North), Perpignan (Pyrénées-Orientales), Nice (Alpes-Maritimes), La Rochelle (Charente-Maritime), Pau (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) or even Lanester (Morbihan), the protests began in the morning.

In La-Tour-du-Pin, in Isère, a hundred yellow vests gathered in front of the sub-prefecture in La Tour-du-Pin, reports Le Dauphiné.

According to the newspaper, they denounced "a totalitarian state" with the establishment of the health pass.

In total, 110,000 demonstrators were expected across the country,

according to the authorities.

Last Saturday, more than 110,000 people demonstrated throughout France against vaccination, the "dictatorship" or the health pass, including 18,000 in Paris divided into several processions and 96,000 in the rest of the country, according to the ministry of 'Interior.