France pushes Covid bans to new extremes

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Dozens of French police officers used tear gas to disperse a protest on Wednesday against President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to require a covid-19 vaccination certificate or a negative PCR test to gain access to bars, restaurants, and cinemas starting next month.

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Macron this week announced extreme measures to combat another rapid rise in new coronavirus infections, including mandatory vaccination of healthcare professionals and new public health regulations.

In doing so, he has gone further than most other European nations as the highly contagious Delta variant creates a new wave of cases, and other governments are watching carefully to see how the French public will respond to the measures.

Police intervened soon after several protesters marched down a boulevard in central Paris without permission from authorities. Some wore placards saying “No to the health pass.”

Some critics of Macron’s plan — which will require shopping malls, cafes, bars, and restaurants to check the health passes of everyone starting in August — accuse the president of trampling on freedoms and discriminating against those who don’t want to get the Covid vaccine.

Macron says the vaccine is the best way to get France back on the path to normalcy and that he is encouraging as many people as possible to get vaccinated.

Wednesday’s protest took place on Bastille Day, the anniversary of the invasion of a medieval fortress in Paris in 1789 that marked the turning point of the French Revolution.

According to French media, the draft law includes, among other proposals, mandatory isolation for 10 days of all people who test positive for Covid-19, with police conducting random checks. The prime minister’s office did not respond when asked to confirm the information.