Civil unrest in France is escalating into a street war between law enforcement officers and civilians as citizens of the European Union protest the government’s sweeping COVID mandates.
Footage of a protest in France over the weekend showed riot police in a violent stand-off against protesters.
Protesters are seen surging through clouds of tear gas and flash grenade explosions towards the police.
At one point, police are seen huddling together, using their shield to fend off the rioters, but the crowd continued to bulldoze forward, beating law enforcement officials down with sticks and rods.
FRANCE – WAR: citizens vs a totalitarian government pic.twitter.com/JDwfM3ucvm
— ShatteredWorldMedia 🌐 (@MediaShattered) December 12, 2021
In France, COVID-19 health passes are required to enter all restaurants, hospitals, bars, cafes, public transportation and a growing number of events and venues.
Consequently, authorities have identified several thousand fake health passes in use around the country.
The French government has launched 400 investigations into networks providing bootlegged passes, French Interior Minister Gerard Darmanin announced Sunday. Offenders caught forging the health pass face a €45,000 fine and a 3 years jail sentence.
Those who enter a bar or restaurant without the pass are subject to a 6-month jail sentence.
Approximately 90 percent of the French population have received one dose of the COVID vaccine.
But the rate of COVID infections is on the rise in the country.
“France has registered a daily average of more than 44,000 new cases over the last week, a 36% increase from the previous week, according to the latest government figures. Weekly hospitalizations of people with COVID-19 went up 1,120, a 41% rise,” the Associated Press reported on Saturday.
Evidently, the experimental vaccines do not provide immunity against the coronavirus, but the inefficacy is not stopping the government from accelerating its effort for booster shots.