France: 100,000 Gather for Protest Against Vaccine Passes

Gabriel Attal, spokesperson for the French government, is holding a press briefing after the Cabinet meeting at the ?lys?e Palace in Paris on the 5th (local time). At this event, spokesperson Attal stated that the number of COVID-19 cases is increasing as if supersonic and predicted that this trend will continue for the time being. France's new COVID-19 cases were recorded at approximately 272,000 the previous day and 332,252 on this day. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] As protests against mandatory vaccination spread in France, more than 100,000 people gathered in a single day over the weekend.

According to a BBC report on the 9th, the French Ministry of the Interior stated that on the 8th (local time), more than 105,000 people held protests nationwide opposing the introduction of vaccine certificates.

This is four times larger than the protest held on the 18th of last month. At that time, the number of participants was estimated to be about 25,000.

The protests originated from the vaccine certificate bill that changes the previously used "health pass" to a "vaccine pass." Under this bill, people must be vaccinated to use multi-use facilities, and the option to submit a negative COVID-19 test result is removed, effectively making vaccination mandatory.

After three days of intense debate, the bill passed the first legislative hurdle in the National Assembly on the 6th and moved on to the Senate. The French government aims to implement it starting from the 15th of this month.

Protesters criticized the government for trampling on their freedoms and treating citizens unequally through the vaccine pass. In Paris, the capital of France, about 18,000 people took to the streets.

A French Ministry of the Interior official reported that as protests intensified in some areas, 34 people were arrested and about 10 police officers were injured.

However, the BBC noted that opposition to vaccines is not widespread in France, and the majority support the vaccine pass. According to a poll conducted last month, 66% of respondents supported the policy of strengthening measures through the vaccine pass.

In France, about 90% of the population aged 12 and over, eligible for vaccination, have completed their vaccinations, placing the country among those with the highest vaccination rates in Europe.

In France, daily new confirmed cases surpassed 300,000 on the 5th and 7th, with the number of infections rapidly increasing.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.