12 Feb: Youtube: 3m02s: Daily Mail: Paris ‘Freedom convoys’: Motorists head for French capital to protest Covid restrictions
Paris is bracing for the arrival of thousands of motorists in the Freedom Convoy today, with police deployed to quell the protest which was banned by authorities this week. The convoy, inspired by the Canadian truckers demonstrating against vaccine mandates, started in cities across the country including Bayonne, Perpignan, Lyon, Lille, Strasbourg and NIce, and is due to arrive in the French capital today. Paris police warned those taking part they risk a two-year prison sentence, driving ban and hefty fine, but that has not deterred the thousands of motorists intending to cause road chaos before moving on to Brussels. They include many anti-Covid vaccination activists, but also people protesting against fast-rising energy prices that they say are making it impossible for low-income families to make ends meet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwv8kpd4eQw
12 Feb: Youtube: 2m01s: Ruptly: France: Police build barricades in central Paris to stop truck convoy
French police built barricades on Friday morning, in an attempt to block the Champs-Elysees and other streets around the Presidential Palace, as a convey of trucks protesting COVID-19 politics is due to try to to enter Paris.
Special equipment and concrete blocks were also brought to help stop the trucks from heading to their final destination, to join the main demonstration in Brussels on Monday, despite a ban.
Dubbed the ‘European truck convoy,’ the action is inspired by the Canadian protests, which have attracted thousands of truck drivers and protesters, coming together to oppose COVID-19 restrictions, vaccine mandates, and the government’s handing of the situation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgOFpUnELCI