Protesters have demonstrated against the health pass for the past four weekends.
Paris:
Vandals have attacked more than 20 vaccination centers and other health facilities, some with Nazi-themed slogans, as the French government ramps up its vaccination campaign against COVID-19.
The anger has been sparked by the introduction of a health pass with proof of vaccination or a recent negative COVID-19 test that is now mandatory for entering restaurants, trains and other public places.
For the past four weekends, protesters have demonstrated against the health pass, saying it restricts individual freedom.
A total of 22 health facilities, including 15 vaccination centers, five COVID-19 testing centers and one medical lab, have been attacked since July 12, an official from the Department of the Interior told Reuters on Wednesday.
Across the country, vaccination centers and outdoor testing facilities at pharmacies have been tagged with swastikas and graffiti such as “collaborator,” “Nazi” and “genocide.”
The same slogans have also been seen at some demonstrations against the health passes.
In the Loire Valley town of Neuille-Pont-Pierre, Stars of David — similar to those Jews were required to wear by the Nazis — were painted on vaccination center signs last month.
“We are cleaning up these horrors, this is abhorrent. Other centers have also been affected by these racist and cowardly attacks,” said the mayor of Neuille-Pont-Pierre, Michel Jollivet, on BFM television.
In Lans-en-Vercors, southeastern France, anti-vaccination graffiti was painted on a community hall containing a vaccine center and fire hoses were opened, flooding the facility, local newspaper Le Dauphine reported.
“The demolition of a vaccination center speaks volumes about the motives of the perpetrators, who will be traced,” Health Minister Olivier Veran said in a tweet.
In Urrugne, in the Pyrenees, the tent of a temporary vaccination center was set on fire, while in Audincourt, eastern France, the power supply to a vaccination center was cut off, endangering vaccine doses in refrigerators.
“There is no doubt that the vaccination center was the target,” Audincourt mayor Martial Bourquin told L’Express.
On Sunday, workers at a vaccination center in Toulouse found a note that read “One day this will all explode,” local media reported.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said the perpetrators will be severely punished, but no major arrests have been made so far.
France has recorded more than 112,000 COVID-19 deaths and a total of 6.33 million cases.
After a slowdown in infections following the third lockdown in France this spring, the more contagious Delta variant has led to a spike in new cases, now averaging more than 22,000 per day.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NewsMadura staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.)
