Why so many French people fear dictatorship and civil war

VENTURE INTO the chat rooms of French cyberspace or onto the streets of Paris, and the impression this summer is of a country on the brink of totalitarian rule or civil collapse, or both. In July the word (dictatorship) surged tenfold on Google, in anticipation of a new “health pass” introduced on August 9th by President Emmanuel Macron. This makes full vaccination (or a negative covid-19 test) a condition of access to restaurants, bars, trains and other places.Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, a right-wing deputy, called the new a “sanitary ”. Michèle Rivasi, a Green politician, called it “apartheid”. Protesters clutched placards with slogans such as “False pandemic, real dictatorship” and “Pass Nazitaire”, or photos of Mr Macron with a Hitler-style moustache. A few wore yellow stars on which was written “non-vaccinated”, eliciting widespread indignation. Joseph Szwarc, a 94-year-old Holocaust survivor, called the comparison “odious” and said he shed tears at the sight: “I wore the yellow star; I know what it was.”