The convoys of freedom stopped in the Orleans conurbation this Friday evening, on the eve of a rally in Paris to protest against health restrictions linked to Covid-19, inspired by the movement of Canadian truckers blocking the capital Ottawa.
Between 300 and 400 people gathered in the parking lot from the Charlemagne Island leisure center in Saint-Jean-le-Blanc. Motorhomes, buses, dump trucks and cars poured into the parking lot around 6 p.m., honking loudly and being greeted with cries of “freedom!”.
The place was the rallying point of several southern cities : Perpignan, Bayonne, Pau or Nice.
– Olivia Cohen
A contagious jubilation
Some come from very far away. Xavier, a farmer near Toulouse, who came with his daughter-in-law aboard his dump truck, had not planned to go to Paris : “At first, we just wanted to go to the Toulouse rally, and then we went to Cahors and we are in Orléans tonight.”
They have both driven more than 500 kilometersin “joy” contagious: “That’s what pushed us to do the road, it’s a very special atmosphere, people just like the police are united. Some even gave us cash so that we could continue to do full, to sustain us.”
Xavier lets himself be carried away: “We don’t know how far we will go, maybe Brussels, depending on our condition.”