Thousands protest against COVID-19 vaccine passes across France: Reports

About 54,000 people participated in demonstrations against COVID-19 vaccine passes held across France on Saturday, radio France Bleu reports.

During the demonstrations, police detained at least ten people, four of whom rallied in Paris, where a total of 7,000 protesters gathered on Saturday, France Bleu said citing Interior Ministry data.

France has seen regular protests against health passes starting from the summer of 2021, French President Emmanuel Macron announced a series of new restrictions to contain the spread of COVID-19, including the special health pass indicating that a person has either been vaccinated or has a negative test result for COVID-19.

Amid the spread of the Omicron strain, the French government will now be replacing the health pass with a vaccine pass, which means that negative COVID-19 test results will no longer be enough to get access to places like bars and restaurants and people will need to get vaccinated either way.

(ANI/Sputnik)