“We confuse a lot of things, and very often anti-Covid measures are a pretext to be violent”, estimates Sunday November 21 on franceinfo Patrick Martin-Genier, specialist in Europe, teacher at Science Po and INALCO, and author of Does Europe have a future? released by Studyrama editions. He was reacting to social protests against health measures which have multiplied in recent days in Europe.
franceinfo: The challenge to health measures is resuming everywhere in Europe. Is there a general fed up with the pandemic?
Patrick Martin-Genier: I do not think so. When we look at the very violent demonstrations that there were this weekend, it is a certain fringe of the population, and of the political spectrum. It is a minority that makes a lot of noise, we must be careful not to draw consequences on these demonstrations. In Austria this weekend, it is the far-right party, conspiracists who have incited to demonstrate, while a majority of the population accepts the containment measures, which will not last more than 20 days, with a assessment of the situation on 12 December.
Is it the extreme right every time? Is this minority the same everywhere?
In Austria, it is the far right with the FPO party, and parties close to conspiratorial, anti-vaccine circles that called for this demonstration. They have unquestionably attracted people, around 40,000 people to Vienna, and beyond their camps. The Chancellor of Austria asked citizens to face reality, that is to say the increase in cases of contamination, and the need for new containment. In Rotterdam, there was also a lot of violence. They are also people who want freedom, but who have been completely overwhelmed by a whole series of hooligans and thugs. More than half of those arrested were young people who had come from outside to provoke violence. And it was the same this afternoon (Sunday, November 21) in Brussels, where we even saw flags of demands for Flemish independence. We confuse a lot of things, and very often anti-Covid measures are a pretext for being violent.
In Guadeloupe there is also a social demand, which is not only linked to the health pass and the vaccination obligation of caregivers, but does that add fuel to the fire?
It’s not just the anti-Covid measures, there are also the social difficulties. In Guadeloupe or Martinique, many young people are in a situation of distress, which cannot justify any violence, but there are social difficulties. The Covid has claimed many lives, possibly due to insufficient care. All this adds to this great concern that can cause violence that we cannot justify anyway.