French truck drivers and citizens are launching their own freedom convoy protests for medical freedom amid the Canadian truck drivers’ ongoing peaceful demonstrations in Ottawa.
According to organizers, convoys will depart from five different regions of France on Wednesday and Thursday before they convene to protest in Paris on Saturday, where thousands have already begun protesting.
After drivers arrive in Paris, they plan to travel to Brussels, Belgium for a protest with other Europeans on Monday.
Europeans from Finland, Belgium, Italy, and the Netherlands will reportedly head to Brussels to protest.
The French freedom convoy, or convoi de la liberté, is protesting France’s vaccine pass, which citizens need to enter public places. The French government requires citizens to show proof of Covid-19 vaccine and booster status to enter bars, theaters, restaurants, and other public places.
Negative Covid-19 tests are no longer valid forms of entry.
“I haven’t been to a restaurant or cinema in two years. I have had enough, and so have enormous numbers of people currently in France,” said one protestor named Sylvian.
Organizers reported that truck drivers may only be a small portion of the convoy. More French civilians are expected to drive in the convoy than truck drivers. Nearly 300,000 French are expected to take part in the protests, according to organizers.
“It will be a convoy leaving from all over France to reach the capital. They will be made up of individuals with their own vehicles, campervans, or private cars,” said Rémi Monde, a protest leader.
Monde maintained that the protests will be a “peaceful and joyful gathering.”
The French protests were inspired by the Canadian Freedom Convoy, the ongoing powerful demonstration from truck drivers in Ottawa over their country’s trucker-vaccine mandates.
American truckers are also reportedly poised to follow in the footsteps of the Canadian Freedom Convoy and form their own convoy that will begin in California and end in Washington, D.C.