Don’t expect to see the massive demonstrations against government repression on television and radio channels on Saturday, August 7. Typically, hundreds of thousands of people have flooded the streets of French cities, protesting against the implementation of a mandatory Covid-19 health pass for the general public, as well as compulsory vaccination for certain categories of people.

As in the former Soviet Union during the collapse of the Soviet Eastern Bloc, those reliant on mainstream media are kept in the dark.

Mass protests kicked off in several French cities on Saturday, with thousands condemning government plans to toughen anti-coronavirus restrictions. A huge march of unprecedented size and fury is being held in Paris, where participants are accompanied by a massive police presence, live footage from RT’s video agency Ruptly shows.

The protests have taken place without any major incident so far, with police and marchers only engaging in minor pushing along the route. At one point, law enforcement could be seen pepper-spraying protesters who tried to push against the police line.

Large protests have also been staged in other cities across the country and the Western European Union. A massive column of protesters marched through the streets of the southwestern coastal city of La Rochelle to condemn the plans for a health pass.

Some 500,000 and up to 1,000,000 protesters were expected to hit the streets of French cities, – according to local media reports, citing police sources. Police and media are notorious for issuing attendee figures far below reality. So far, French law enforcement has not released any official estimates on the scale of the ongoing protests.

The latest round of protests, which have rocked the country for the past few weeks, comes after France’s top court deemed most of the controversial legislation package to be constitutional. The legislation, approved by the court on Thursday is expected to come into force on Monday.

The court shot down several provisions, but greenlit the most controversial ones, including the implementation of mandatory health passes for the general public, which will be required to visit most public venues. The legislation also implements mandatory coronavirus vaccination for frontline healthcare workers and some other categories of French citizens.

While critics of the legislation have accused the government of trampling on civil rights and even sliding towards a ’dictatorship,’ the authorities have insisted that the package is designed only to encourage vaccination. Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!