Thousands of Paris Police Officers Brace for ‘Freedom Convoy’

(by Tyler Durden | Zero Hedge) – French protesters are expected to descend on Paris in a Canada-inspired “Freedom Convoy” sometime on Friday as they voice strong opposition to President Emmanuel Macron’s medical tyranny of lockdowns and forced vaccines mandates.

According to the Guardian, authorities in and around France’s capital have placed more than 7,000 officers on alert and at critical points of the city to deter convoys of trucks, cars, and vans.

“The stated objective of these demonstrations is to ‘block the capital’ by preventing road traffic from circulating in order to further their demands … from Friday, before moving on to Brussels on Monday,” Paris’ police authority said.

“Because of the risk to public order, these protests will be banned from 11 to 14 February,” police said, adding that anyone blocking public roads will face severe fines and jail time. 

The Guardian reports convoys of trucks, vans, cars, and even motorcycles left Nice in the south-east, Bayonne in the south-west, Strasbourg in the north-east, and Cherbourg in the north-west, among other cities as they all head to Paris.

Video published on Twitter shows police in the French capital preparing for convoy by ensuring protesters didn’t paralyze the metro area.

France, gendarmerie armored vehicles arrived in Paris a few hours before the arrival of the Freedom Convoy. pic.twitter.com/WVZBDbuiUU

— RadioGenova (@RadioGenova) February 11, 2022

PARIS – Des blindés de la gendarmerie sont positionnés dans la capitale. Ils pourront être utilisé pour pousser des voitures à l’arrêt. #convoisdelaliberte @CLPRESSFR pic.twitter.com/TNKByuBDOX

— Clément Lanot (@ClementLanot) February 11, 2022

More footage shows police erecting metal barriers around the metro area.

Installation de barricades anti émeute sur les Champs Elysées en prévision de la venue du “#convoipourlaliberte ” à #Paris. #ConvoiFrance2022 pic.twitter.com/qcwPIltmjT

— Amar Taoualit (@TaoualitAmar) February 11, 2022

“We’ve been going around in circles for three years,” demonstrator Jean-Marie Azais, who was heading to Paris. “We saw the Canadians and said to ourselves, ‘It’s awesome what they’re doing.’ In eight days, boom, something was sparked.”