French Prime Minister Castex defends the right to assemble for anti-vaccination protesters

French Prime Minister Jean Castex responded to the eighth consecutive weekend of anti-vaccination rallies with a strong defense of complaints and agitation from protesters against government efforts to stem the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

“There is a perfect right to protest and to be against the vaccine or against the health pass,” Castex told On est en direct.

“But we don’t have the right to use these motives to make anti-Semitic remarks,” he added. “We are not allowed because we are anti-vax to go and set fire to vaccination centers, we do not have the right because we are anti-pass to physically attack a server in a cafe. “

More than 115,000 people have died in France since the first wave of the pandemic in January 2020. French health services reported about 10,000 new cases of infection on Saturday.

France’s Interior Ministry said more than 140,000 people attended protests across France on Saturday to express their anger over mandatory coronavirus vaccinations for health workers and the need to show proof of double vaccination or a recent PCR test to enter cafes, restaurants and museums.

Around 200 protesters clashed with police in central Paris after storming the Forum des Halles shopping center in central Paris. Other demonstrators broke into the Saint Charles station in Marseille and ransacked the Pommeraye passage in Nantes.

“In the anti-vax campaign there are people who don’t know, who are afraid and you should never laugh at people who are afraid,” Castex said.

“It is the government’s responsibility to explain reality. What has serious side effects, we are sure, is the Covid. No vaccine has ever been so closely monitored in all countries as the Covid vaccines. “

Florian Philippot, one of the politicians who called for the protests, told his supporters in Paris on Saturday that they should be prepared to return to the streets next weekend to increase pressure on the government.

“We have a number of constraints because the pandemic is here,” Castex said on the show.

“When you are vaccinated, you can still pass the virus on. The vaccination is there, but so is the epidemic. If there was no health pass, what would be the alternative? Closure as we have known it. The pass is useful, we put it where it is useful and it produces results.