Throngs march in France against virus restrictions

More than 100,000 people joined rallies across France on Saturday to protest mandatory vaccinations for health care workers and COVID19 passes that will be required to enter restaurants and other venues.

In Paris, separate protest marches by the farright and the farleft wound through different parts of the city. Demonstrations were also held in Strasbourg in the east, Lille in the north, Montpellier in the south and elsewhere.

Marchers chanted “Liberty!” and carried signs denouncing a “medical dictatorship” and President Emmanuel Macron.

Macron’s measures are aimed at slowing the spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus and protecting hospitals from a new surge of patients. The president ordered all health care workers to get vaccinated by Sept. 15, and announced that special COVID19 passes will be required in all restaurants, bars, hospitals, shopping malls, trains, and planes. To get a pass, people must be fully vaccinated, have recently recovered from the virus, or have a negative virus test.

The measures have prompted record numbers of people to sign up for vaccinations in recent days — but have also prompted anger.

Meanwhile, the French government announced tightened border controls starting Sunday, but also said it would allow in travelers from anywhere in the world who have been fully vaccinated.

Starting Sunday, France will also start requiring anyone who isn’t vaccinated arriving from Britain, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Greece or Cyprus to present a negative test less than 24 hours old to cross French borders.

The pandemic has cost France more than 111,000 lives and deeply damaged the economy.

Michel Euler / Associated Press An antivaccine demonstrator dressed in the colors of the French flag joins a rally in Paris. More than 100,000 people protested across France against the government’s latest restrictions.