France: Thousands protest against COVID 'health pass' for sixth consecutive weekend

On Saturday, August 21, thousands of demonstrators in France marched across cities to mark their protests against the COVID-19 "health pass." This was the sixth Saturday in a row that protests were organised in various cities including Paris against the Macron government's health pass amidst the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Criticizing the measure, many protesters blamed the French government for making the vaccines obligatory by resorting to the health pass. They also termed this move by the government as unfair as, according to them, it will restrict the rights of the unvaccinated citizens in the country.  They further went on to say that things like "health pass" and "vaccine passport" will give a rise to discrimination in the society as people will be looked at in two different categories - the vaccinated and non vaccinated. 

Majority in support of "health pass" despite protest

The health pass has now been made mandatory to access restaurants and cafes, bars, shopping centres, aeroplanes, cultural venues, sports arenas, and long-distance travel by trains. At least four demonstrations were organized by different groups in the capital city Paris besides 200 protests that took place across many cities and towns in the country. Last week, more than 2,00,000 protesters took to streets in different cities across France. However, the organisers claimed demonstrators' number was far more than what the government has reported.  However, polls have shown that, despite the protests, the majority of Frech people are in support of the health pass, which shows a person's vaccination status as well as different other COVID-related statuses.  

Millions took the COVID jab since the announcement of "health pass"

Besides making the health pass mandatory, the law authorising it also made vaccinations mandatory for French health workers by September 15. Since French President Emmanuel Macron announced the measure on July 12, millions have reportedly taken the first jab of the vaccine. By the end of July, the health pass was already required in museums, theatres, movies and all public events attended by over fifty people. It must be noted here that France has been logging a high number of infections about 22,000 each day since last most. While more than 40 million or 60% of the people are fully inoculated in the country, over 47 million people have received their first jab.

Image Credit: ANI