France saw the launch of the first “freedom convoys” on Wednesday February 9, like what is being done in Ottawa (Canada) to protest against the health measures linked to the Covid-19 pandemic. Several of these “convoys” left Nice, Perpignan or Bayonne to converge on Paris, where the prefect of police on Thursday banned any demonstration between Friday February 11 and Monday February 14. However, while Ottawa has been blocked for several days by this movement, when the French ministers are questioned about these “freedom convoys”, they answer in two words: “vigilance” and “serenity”. And it is serenity that predominates, to hear the arguments of each other.
“The movement cannot be the same as in Ottawa”slips one of them, arguing that in France most truckers are company employees: they therefore do not do what they want with their trucks. “The truckers’ unions do not support the movement”, also notes an adviser, citing the note that territorial intelligence sent Tuesday to the Minister of the Interior. What to think that there will not be many trucks, therefore not the same blocking capacity as in Canada.
This is not necessarily good news when it comes to policing. The over-representation of “light vehicles”, that is to say individual cars, makes it more difficult to establish a system. While the prefect of police has “gave firm instructions to the internal security forces” and that one “specific device will be put in place to prevent blockages of roads”, according to the press release from the police headquarters, should we increase random checks on the outskirts of Paris to slow the progress of convoys? Or should we go so far as to close certain doors on the ring road? The Interior Ministry is awaiting a second intelligence note on Thursday to calibrate its response. The prefect plans to “verbalize and arrest offenders”.
However, neither the Elysée nor the ministers believe in the hypothesis of a massive movement. “There is not a wind of revolution in France”slips an adviser, for whom “anger on social media is not anger on the street”. “There are sincere people in this movement, with whom we can discuss”recognizes, however, a close friend of Emmanuel Macron. “But alongside them are ultras, radicalized minorities, conspirators with whom dialogue is not possible.” It is on the latter that vigilance is maximum.
Nevertheless, “the subject does not panic the loops” of En Marche where the “retort” of the majority in the media, according to a spokesperson. They are several to repeat it, in En Marche: the election plays the role of valve. Unhappy people will vote and not demonstrate. So there shouldn’t be any outbursts of anger by April. Some go further. “Politically, public opinion will be largely with us”says an elected official, who wants to believe that the clear line set by Emmanuel Macron – “fuck the unvaccinated” – plays in his favor. “On the other hand, according to the same, the episode will reveal the ambiguity of the other candidates.” Will they support the slogan of these convoys, as Marine Le Pen has already done? Or will they take a more stance in favor of maintaining public order?