a Saturday afternoon under high tension

Saturday evening February 12, the Champs-Elysées were under close surveillance. Dozens of CRS trucks were stationed to ward off any return of protesters. For several hours the situation was tense on the avenue and the surrounding area. The police dispersed the crowd with tear gas, the epilogue of a day of demonstrations in scattered order. They were several thousand to have gathered to demonstrate in the capital.

Within these so-called “freedom” convoys, opponents of the vaccination pass, but not only. “We are tired of all these restrictions. Tired of working and not being able to live decently”protested a protester. “There are some who gorge themselves like piglets and we are dying the slab, it can’t last”, hammers another. 7,200 police and gendarmes were mobilized to prevent a blockade of Paris. Assessment: 337 verbalizations, 50 arrests and several injuries.