Paris braces for Canada-style convoys against Covid rules

Thousands of protesters in convoys were heading to Paris from across France, with some hoping to blockade the capital in opposition to Covid restrictions despite police warnings to back off.

Inspired by Canadian truckers paralysing border traffic with the US, the French protesters have been setting off from Bayonne, Perpignan, Lyon, Lille, Strasbourg and elsewhere since Wednesday with the aim of converging on Paris by Friday evening.

They include many anti-Covid vaccination activists, but also people protesting against fast-rising energy prices that they say are making it impossible for low-income families to make ends meet.

"People need to see us, and to listen to the people who just want to live a normal and free life," said Lisa, a retired 62-year-old, as she joined a convoy of over 1,000 vehicles leaving Chateaubourg in the western Brittany region.

Like many protesters, Lisa has been an activist in the "yellow vest" movement which erupted in 2018 over fuel prices, but then became a platform for many other grievances linked to economic hardship.

The yellow vests have sometimes clashed with police, but Lisa said she hoped that the protests on Friday would go off peacefully. "It would really annoy me if things got out of hand," she said.

After spending a cold night in a parking lot, the drivers in Chateaubourg set off around 9:00 am in a long single file of trucks, passenger cars and campers, as sympathetic passers-by waved from bridges and wished them luck.

Paris police have been instructed to deal "firmly" with any attempt to block the capital's roads.

"If people want to demonstrate normally, they can," Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said. "If they want to block traffic, we will intervene."

The protesters meanwhile shared information about police deployment around Paris, often via the Telegram messaging service, and exchanged tips about the easiest access routes.