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COVID-19 VACCINES

French anti-health pass demonstrations lead to 76 arrests

Saturday's protests against the health pass saw over 200,000 people take to the streets, leading to 76 arrests, according to French daily Le Figaro, citing the latest statement from the Ministry of the Interior on Sunday.

Published: 1 August 2021 15:29 CEST
French anti-health pass demonstrations lead to 76 arrests
A demonstrator holds a banner reading "it's our choice" during a national day of protest against the compulsory Covid-19 vaccination for certain workers and the compulsory use of the health pass called for by the French government in Paris on July 31st, 2021. (Photo by GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT / AFP)

There were 26 arrests in Paris alone, where three police officers were injured, the paper said.

Twenty-five of these, including two minors, were put in custody, under suspicion of having acted violently towards law enforcement agents, of “participating in a group with a view to committing acts of violence or causing damage”, of insulting officers, rebellion or possession of explosive devices.

This was the third consecutive Saturday of protests against the health pass and compulsory vaccination for some professions.

READ ALSO: IN PICTURES: Over 200,000 people protest against health pass in France

And, despite it being France’s holiday period, the numbers of people protesting have been growing each week.

A week earlier, 161,000 people protested, including 11,000 in Paris, and 110,000 the week before that.

The health pass was definitively adopted last Sunday evening after six days of heated debates.
READ ALSO: Health passport: What changes in France on August 9th?
It has been in force for visits to museums, cinemas and cultural venues with a capacity of more than 50 people since July 21st.
However, the latest legislation extends its use and makes a Covid-19 health pass compulsory for other day-to-day activities, such as visiting a cafe, boarding a plane or travelling on an inter-city train on 9th August.
It also makes vaccination compulsory for health-workers and carers.

Member comments

  1. Good. Should be more. They should be sentenced to work cleaning wards where virus infected patients are.

  2. What I would say to Macron….. One simple question: if the vaccinated can catch Covid & spread Covid – what EXACTLY is the point of a vaccine passport?

    1. You’re definitely not a statistics student! How many vaccinated catch/spread covid compared the unvaccinated? Come on!

      1. Double vaccinated are transmitting faster than others…60% of hospital patience were double vaccinated..go figure!

  3. I downloaded the anti covid app and had no problem with it. It took about three minutes, two of which we’re finding my QR code in the NHS sute

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COVID-19 VACCINES

Italy’s constitutional court upholds Covid vaccine mandate as fines kick in

Judges on Thursday dismissed legal challenges to Italy's vaccine mandate as "inadmissible” and “unfounded”, as 1.9 million people face fines for refusing the jab.

Published: 2 December 2022 12:11 CET
Italy's constitutional court upholds Covid vaccine mandate as fines kick in

Judges were asked this week to determine whether or not vaccine mandates introduced by the previous government during the pandemic – which applied to healthcare and school staff as well as over-50s – breached the fundamental rights set out by Italy’s constitution.

Italy became the first country in Europe to make it obligatory for healthcare workers to be vaccinated, ruling in 2021 that they must have the jab or be transferred to other roles or suspended without pay.

The Constitutional Court upheld the law in a ruling published on Thursday, saying it considered the government’s requirement for healthcare personnel to be vaccinated during the pandemic period neither unreasonable nor disproportionate.

Judges ruled other questions around the issue as inadmissible “for procedural reasons”, according to a court statement published on Thursday.

This was the first time the Italian Constitutional Court had ruled on the issue, after several regional courts previously dismissed challenges to the vaccine obligation on constitutional grounds.

A patient being administered a Covid jab.

Photo by Pascal GUYOT / AFP

One Lazio regional administrative court ruled in March 2022 that the question of constitutional compatibility was “manifestly unfounded”.

Such appeals usually centre on the question of whether the vaccine requirement can be justified in order to protect the ‘right to health’ as enshrined in the Italian Constitution.

READ ALSO: Italy allows suspended anti-vax doctors to return to work

Meanwhile, fines kicked in from Thursday, December 1st, for almost two million people in Italy who were required to get vaccinated under the mandate but refused.

This includes teachers, law enforcement and healthcare workers, and the over 50s, who face fines of 100 euros each under rules introduced in 2021.

Thursday was the deadline to justify non-compliance with the vaccination mandate due to health reasons, such as having contracted Covid during that period.

Italy’s health minister on Friday however appeared to suggest that the new government may choose not to enforce the fines.

“It could cost more for the state to collect the fines” than the resulting income, Health Minister Orazio Schillaci told Radio Rai 1.

He went on to say that it was a matter for the Economy and Finance Ministry, but suggested that the government was drawing up an amendment to the existing law.

READ ALSO: Covid vaccines halved Italy’s death toll, study finds

The League, one of the parties which comprises the new hard-right government, is pushing for fines for over-50s to be postponed until June 30th 2023.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had promised a clear break with her predecessor’s health policies, after her Brothers of Italy party railed against the way Mario Draghi’s government handled the pandemic in 2021 when it was in opposition.

At the end of October, shortly after taking office, the new government allowed doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals to return to work earlier than planned after being suspended for refusing the Covid vaccine.

There has been uncertainty about the new government’s stance after the deputy health minister in November cast doubt on the efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines, saying he was “not for or against” vaccination.

Italy’s health ministry continues to advise people in at-risk groups to get a booster jab this winter, and this week stressed in social media posts that vaccination against Covid-19 and seasonal flu remained “the most effective way to protect ourselves and our loved ones, especially the elderly and frail”.

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