Covid: Macron warns he'll 'hassle' France's unvaccinated

French President Emmanuel Macron has warned he intends to make life difficult for people in France who have not been vaccinated against Covid-19.
"I really want to hassle them, and we will continue to do this - to the end," he told France's Le Parisien newspaper.
But political opponents said the strong language he used in the interview was not worthy of a president.
His comments came as a bill on Covid passes was delayed by opposition MPs uniting against the government.
A debate in parliament on the bill, which would bar the unvaccinated from much of public life, was prevented from continuing after midnight.
The legislation was expected to be approved in a vote this week, but it has angered vaccine opponents and several French MPs have said they have received death threats over the issue.
In his interview with Le Parisien on Tuesday, Mr Macron said that while he would not "vaccinate by force", he hoped to encourage people to get jabbed by "limiting as much as possible their access to activities in social life".
"I won't send [unvaccinated people] to prison," he said. "So we need to tell them, from 15 January, you will no longer be able to go to the restaurant. You will no longer be able to go for a coffee, you will no longer be able to go to the theatre. You will no longer be able to go to the cinema."
The language Mr Macron used about hassling or annoying the unvaccinated is considered to be slang and prompted a strong reaction from opposition politicians.
"No health emergency justifies such words," said Bruno Retailleau, Senate leader of the right-wing Republicans, quoted by AFP.
"Emmanuel Macron says he has learned to love the French, but it seems he especially likes to despise them."
Far-right leader Marine le Pen tweeted: "A president shouldn't say that... Emmanuel Macron is unworthy of his office."
Meanwhile, leftist politician Jean-Luc Melenchon described the remarks as an "astonishing confession".
"It is clear, the vaccination pass is a collective punishment against individual freedom," he added.
France has one of the highest Covid vaccination rates in the EU, with more than 90% of the adult population double-jabbed.
For months France has asked people to show either proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test to access many public venues.
But the French government wants to remove the option to show a negative test in response to record increases in infections, driven by the highly contagious Omicron and Delta variants of Covid.
On Tuesday, the country reported 271,686 new daily Covid cases - the highest number of daily infections recorded in France since the start of the pandemic.
Mr Macron is still yet to formally declare he will run for a second term in April's presidential elections, but told Le Parisien in Tuesday's interview that he wanted to and will clarify his decision "once the health situation allows it".
Source: BBC
Trending World
'Unprecedented' alerts in France as blistering heat grips Europe
17:26One of Nigeria’s richest men set to be buried in Saudi Arabia
13:53Queen of Katwe's gambit still in play for Uganda's slum chess players
13:42Dozens of Ghanaians trafficked in football job scam rescued in Nigeria
19:14Thai prime minister suspended over leaked phone call
19:14Liberian president killed in coup gets state funeral after 45 years
19:15India sends its first astronaut into space in 41 years
14:17US gained nothing from strikes, Iran's supreme leader says
01:38Trump calls for end to Netanyahu corruption trial
01:31US Supreme Court allows parents to opt out of lessons with LGBT books
19:03