The police have deployed over 7,000 officers around the city and have already issued a ban against the convoy.
Thousands of vehicles carrying demonstrators from around France were converging on Paris on Friday in a movement inspired by Canada’s trucker-led protests, despite warnings by French authorities that they would break up attempts to block the capital. Starting in Lille, Strasbourg, Nice and other cities, convoys of cars, trucks, camping vans and other vehicles slowly made their way to Paris, bearing protesters who honked, waved French flags and held up signs critical of the government to protest the country’s vaccine pass and other grievances like rising gas prices. The Paris police have already issued a ban against the so-called “Convoi de la Liberté,” a direct translation of Canada’s “Freedom Convoy,” threatening to fine offenders and to tow blocking vehicles. On Friday, over 7,000 police officers were deployed to tollbooths and other key sites in and around the city with bulldozers and water cannons to break up potential blockades. Jean Castex, France’s prime minister, said on Friday it was wrong to “associate these virulent attacks against vaccination with the word freedom,” telling the France 2 television broadcaster that the protesters were free to demonstrate but not block traffic. “If they block Paris or if they try to block the capital, we will have to be very firm,” Mr.
