Protests Swell in France Over COVID Measures as Cases Rise
Voice of America
PARIS - After a slow start, the European Union has now overtaken the United States in vaccinating its citizens against COVID-19. Anti-vaccine resistance remains, including in France, where officials estimate more than 200,000 people joined demonstrations this weekend to protest a mandatory health pass.
Brandishing banners proclaiming “freedom” and “pass of shame,” tens of thousands of people demonstrated in Paris and other French cities Saturday against government measures to fight the coronavirus pandemic, and the disease it causes, COVID-19. While many of the protests were peaceful, several police officers were wounded trying to keep order in Paris. In the southern city of Marseille, demonstrators destroyed a coronavirus testing tent, shouting “assassins” and “collaborators.” The demonstrations marked the third straight weekend of protests and were the biggest so far. Some protesters have worn yellow Stars of David similar to those Jews were forced to wear in the former Nazi Germany — a move slammed by Holocaust survivors. The protesters included members of the far left and far right, and those representing the yellow vest economic justice movement born a few years ago.People walk past the entrance of the International Medical Corps American field hospital ahead of its evacuation in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on June 2, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. Displaced Palestinians sit alongside their belongings in a van driving in al-Bureij camp in the central Gaza Strip on June 2, 2024. People talk in front of a sign referring to hostages kidnapped during the deadly October 7 attack by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, June 2, 2024. Palestinians use a path lined with destroyed buildings al-Bureij camp in the central Gaza Strip on June 2, 2024.
This handout photo released on June 2, 2024 shows South Korean military officers check unidentified objects believed to be North Korean trash from balloons that crossed the inter-Korea border, on a street in Seoul. In this photo provided by Jeonbuk Fire Headquarters, balloons with trash presumably sent by North Korea, hang on electric wires as South Korean army soldiers stand guard in Muju, South Korea, May 29, 2024.