Paris police fired tear gas Saturday against a handful of demonstrators on the Champs-Elysees Avenue who defied a police order by taking part in a vehicle protest against virus restrictions inspired by Canada’s horn-honking truckers.
And a threatened blockade of Paris failed to materialize Saturday, despite days of online organizing efforts after police set up checkpoints into the French capital on key roads. Police said they successfully stopped at least 500 vehicles from heading to the banned protest, but a few dozen vehicles were able to slip in and disrupt traffic on the boutique-lined Champs-Elysees. Authorities fired tear gas as they demanded that the demonstrators disperse, some of whom climbed onto their vehicles in the middle of the road to create chaos.
Police detained 54 people and handed out 300 tickets to motorists involved in the protest. Police also seized knives, hammers, and other objects in a central Parisian square.
Protesters railing against the vaccination pass that France requires to enter restaurants and many other venues have converged in recent days toward Paris from the north, south, east and west, waving and honking at onlookers as they drove by. Some convoys sought to avoid police detection by traveling on local roads instead of the major highways leading into the capital.
Waving French flags and shouting “Freedom!,” the protesters were galvanized in part by truckers who have blockaded the centre of Ottawa and blocked border crossings to the US.
Most of the French convoys appeared small, and it is unclear how many people participated. The protest came as months of demonstrations against French government vaccination rules have been waning and as the government is relaxing virus restrictions. Nearly all French adults are vaccinated against COVID-19 and the protests have represented a small minority.
Meanwhile, authorities in Wellington, New Zealand, took a different approach: blasting Barry Manilow songs and the 90s dance hit “Macarena” on loop to break up a convoy encamped outside Parliament.