As the start of the school year approaches, opponents of the health pass and vaccination plan to increase pressure on the government with their sixth weekend of mobilization.
They announced more than 200 demonstrations in France.
Saturday at midday, several gatherings had already started.
According to estimates from a police source, between "170,000 and 220,000" people should demonstrate, with large processions anticipated in "Toulon, Nice, Marseille, Montpellier or Perpignan".
4 processions in Paris and support for Didier Raoult
In Paris, a first procession started from the Place de Fontenoy in the 7th arrondissement, towards Bercy.
This gathering, at the initiative of the yellow vests, is one of the four processions that must crisscross the capital all afternoon.
Between 12,000 and 20,000 participants are expected in the capital, according to a police source (they were 13,900 last week).
A major law enforcement system is deployed to supervise the four Parisian parades, which have taken place without major incidents over the past two weeks.
PARIS - Demonstration against the #PassSanitaire: important mobilization for the 6th consecutive Saturday in summer.
“Freedom, truth!
»# Demonstrations21aout # demonstrations21aout pic.twitter.com/ByN1cMUF1L
- Clément Lanot (@ClementLanot) August 21, 2021
A rally launched by Florian Philippot, leader of the Patriots, is also a procession of support for Professor Didier Raoult, in the hot seat.
The slogan "Touche pas à Raoult" adorned a number of signs in the colors of the movement of the ex close to Marine Le Pen.
"They want to shamefully oust him!"
», He launched at the microphone, in allusion to the statements of the Director-General of the Public Assistance-Hospitals of Marseille who does not wish to renew the 69-year-old infectious disease specialist at the head of the IHU Méditerranée Infection.
Unbelievable !
100,000 French people shout #TouchePasARaoult!
So beautiful! # Manifs21aout 🇫🇷🇫🇷🇫🇷 VIDEO ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/No2i15qBoq
- Florian Philippot (@f_philippot) August 21, 2021
In Marseille too, support for Dr Raoult is at the heart of the slogans of the many demonstrators.
An impressive crowd chants #Raoult Raoult in front of IHU Marseille to send to BFMTV please # Manifs21aout pic.twitter.com/zwmjeuaVf9
- THE GENERAL 0fficiel 💎 (@LE_GENERAL__OFF) August 21, 2021
In large cities in the south like Toulon, the mobilization also seems important.
Nearly 6,000 people marched there this afternoon according to the prefecture.
Same thing in Montpellier according to the prefecture of Hérault, where 9,500 demonstrators marched towards the Place de la Comédie.
Mobilization almost everywhere in the H ”exagon
In Reunion, a few hundred people marched in the morning on the seafront, in Saint-Pierre, notes Réunion 1re.
Certain demonstrators, particularly determined, entered "symbolically" in the town hall of the city, before leaving there a few minutes later, "without overflow", specifies the local chain.
Demonstrators invaded the Town Hall of Saint-Pierre in # Réunion while the demonstrations against the #Passanitaire continue for the sixth consecutive Saturday # Manifs21aout # demonstrations21aout #PassSanitaire pic.twitter.com/74vJSgiZt5
- BBR06 (@ BBR_06) August 21, 2021
In the center of the small town of Pau (77,000 inhabitants), at least 2,700 people according to the police demonstrated in the morning, including one of the emblematic figures of the “yellow vests” movement, Jérôme Rodrigues, who publicly declared: “Vaccinate you if you want, but we are against a pass to the hospital or to go shopping, we are asking for the law to be repealed ”.
Last week, the demonstration in this city had brought together 3,400 people.
Several thousand demonstrators opposed to the health pass marched again in the streets of #Pau for the 6th Saturday of mobilization # AntiPassSanitaire pic.twitter.com/9gHjKqDgGv
- France Bleu Béarn Bigorre (@FB_BearnBigorre) August 21, 2021
In Mont-de-Marsan, about 200 people marched in the streets of the city this Saturday noon, according to estimates by France Bleu Gascogne.
Mont-de-Marsan: around 200 demonstrators in the streets against the implementation of the #Landes health pass # demonstration21aout pic.twitter.com/FxJd12SfkG
- France Bleu Gascogne (@Bleu_Gascogne) August 21, 2021
In the center-west of the country, in Niort, the sanitary anti-pass left the station at 10:30 am to reach Les Halles, says Ouest-France.
They would be between 200 and 250 participants, told the local newspaper one of the groups represented during the demonstration.
This is less than the rally last week, which brought together 300 people.
#Niort.
Covid-19: around 250 demonstrators opposed to the health pass mobilized again.
https://t.co/urkQYLp256 pic.twitter.com/wSUN3JVr5d
- e_niort (@e_niort) August 21, 2021
The movement which began in mid-July and brings together beyond the vaccine-skeptical or conspiratorial galaxy, is marked by strong decentralization. He has grown in an unprecedented way in the middle of summer. Between provocative slogans and comparisons with the Nazi horrors, the anti-health pass demonstrations were punctuated with signs of anti-Semitism. Amplified by the pandemic and social networks, anti-Jewish hatred is becoming commonplace, alerting associations and specialists. Last Saturday, the Interior Ministry had identified 214,845 demonstrators, a figure down slightly from the previous week. The militant collective Le Nombre Jaune, publishing a city-by-city count, had counted 388,843 participants, also down slightly from the 415,000 it had counted the previous Saturday.