As he continued with a series of trips to towns around France in an attempt to re-engage with the public after promulgating his unpopular pensions reform, the French president was on Monday yet again met by noisy protestors banging pots and pans, booing and even bugling, during his visit to Vendôme.
Taking inspiration from the so-called 'freedom truck convoys' blocking cities in Canada, opponents in France of a Covid-19 vaccine pass that is required for access to many public venues have set off from around the country in road convoys towards Paris, where the police authorities have banned their planned rally in the capital this weekend.
After Prime Minister Manuel Valls pledged this week to begin evacuation of the site of France's contested "Great West" airport near Nantes in north-west France, militant ecologists, anti-capitalism activists, and local inhabitants occupying the earmarked land are preparing for a showdown with anti-riot police.
