“An undeclared mobilization”, and now unauthorized. On Thursday, the Paris police prefecture issued an order banning the “Freedom Convoy” that is to reach the capital on Friday, to demonstrate once morest health restrictions.
“Due to the risks of disturbances to public order that this rally might cause, the prefect of Police makes an order prohibiting such demonstrations, from Friday, February 11, 2022 to Monday, February 14, 2022 inclusive,” the prefecture said in a statement.
Leaving the south of France on Wednesday, a few hundred motorists spread the word regarding militant groups on social networks in the hope of generating a mobilization comparable to that of Ottawa, the capital of Canada where truckers have been blocking certain traffic lanes since January 29.
“The stated objective of these protesters would be to block the capital by obstructing road traffic on the streets of Paris to promote their demands, before continuing their journey towards Brussels on Monday, February 14,” the prefecture details.
Two years in prison and a 4,500 euro fine
Obstructing a road open to public traffic is punishable by two years in prison and a fine of 4,500 euros, as well as a suspension of the permit for a period of up to three years. “The state’s response will be extremely firm,” Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin had warned on BFMTV on Tuesday, when asked regarding possible blockages.
VIDEO. From Nice to Perpignan via Bayonne: top departure for the protesters of the “convoys of freedom”
A territorial intelligence note describes a motley movement that is in line with the Yellow Vests. The rally, which kicks off this Wednesday in France to reach Brussels on February 14, might give a “new impetus” to the protest movements, they say. However, the mobilization is for the moment “far from being solidly structured”, assessed the territorial services.
In Ottawa, where this type of protest originated, the police are threatening to arrest any protester blocking the streets following 13 days of protest once morest sanitary measures that paralyzes the Canadian capital. At the origin of the movement, truckers protested once morest the vaccination requirement reserved for them in Canada, to cross the border with the United States.
