John Lichfield was Paris correspondent of The Independent for 20 years. Half-English and half-Belgian, he was born in Stoke-on-Trent and lives in Norm

Macron’s vaccine passport gamble

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2021-08-06 13:00:12

John Lichfield was Paris correspondent of The Independent for 20 years. Half-English and half-Belgian, he was born in Stoke-on-Trent and lives in Normandy.

Le virus c’est l’état (“The virus is the state”) — so reads a freshly-painted slogan on a motorway bridge on the Norman-Breton border.

This may be the work of the anarchist far-left. It may be the work of the libertarian Right. It may — though less plausibly — have been painted by ordinary apolitical people infuriated by President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to ban all fun and long-distance travel for unvaccinated citizens from Monday.

All three of these groups, along with many other angry citizens, were represented in the protests against the “passe sanitaire” (health pass) on Saturday, which attracted over 200,000 people to 150 demonstrations in French towns and cities last Saturday.

Politics goes to the street more rapidly in France than other democracies — but protests during the late July-August holiday season are very unusual. And the numbers have doubled since they kicked off three weeks ago. Further protests are expected this weekend.