A day of scattered gatherings. a few thousand opponents of the “freedom convoy” succeeded, on Saturday February 12, in reaching the Champs-Elysées in Paris, while several rallies took place in the capital despite the ban on demonstrations there.
Their presence on the Parisian avenue quickly triggered the intervention of the police to disperse them. At the start of the evening, demonstrators on foot were nevertheless still present on the scene in a tense atmosphere, according to journalists on the spot.
Tension mounts on the #ChampsElysees. #convoydelaliberte pic.twitter.com/U7BLV65hfa
— Remy Buisine (@RemyBuisine) February 12, 2022
At 19 ‘o clock, 337 protesters had were fined and 54 arrested in Paris, according to the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, on Twitter. Among them, aborn of the figures of “yellow vests”, Jérôme Rodrigues. The police also intercepted several hundred vehicles and fined their drivers during the day.
Thank you to the police and gendarmes mobilized this weekend across France, and in particular in Paris, to enforce the republican order and freedom of movement. In Paris, 337 verbalizations and 54 arrests.
— Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) February 12, 2022
Cars, motorhomes and vans were left Nice, Lille, Strasbourg, Vimy (Pas-de-Calais) or Châteaubourg (Ille-et-Vilaine), traveling for two or three days at reduced speed on secondary roads to reach the capital. As the “freedom convoy” was not authorized in Paris, the number of demonstrators specific to this movement was not counted.
In addition to the “freedom convoy”, the usual demonstrations against health restrictions took place on Saturday all over France. Some 32,100 opponents, including nearly 7,600 in Paris, demonstrated in 149 points of the territory, according to the Ministry of the Interior. The balance sheet was 162 shares and 29,000 participants the previous week. The mobilization was marked acts of vandalism in Montpellier (Herault).