French police joined the demonstrators protesting the vaccine passport scheme.

The police were marching in front of the protestors to gain control and were using classic management tactics to control the crowd.

The police were marching in front of the protestors to gain control and were using classic management tactics to control the crowd.Many protests took place across France as people were angry against the order passed by French President Emmanuel Macron, which makes vaccination compulsory for healthcare workers and visiting facilities. Over 100,000 people protested, with some donning the famous “yellow vests” against new rules to curb the infection. Many indulged in violence and vandalized vaccination centers. Vaccine hesitancy is common in France, and critics say that mandating health passes is discriminatory.

Several other countries in Europe have also expanded health passes to citizens, which restricts unvaccinated people from visiting restaurants, cafes, and shopping centers.

Amid this, a 22-second-long video of French gendarmes marching ahead of a group of protesters has become viral. It claimed that police officers too joined the protestors against the French government's COVID-19 restrictions.

Indeed the video belongs to the protest organized on July 17, but the officers did not join in with protesters. As seen in the original footage, they were seen trying to control the crowd. Civicio, an independent media outlet, live-streamed the entire protest. The 22-second viral video clip is an excerpt taken from the live footage. In fact, the police officers were not shouting but instead wearing masks and carrying riot gear. They were seen working in tandem to control the crowd, as seen at other points in the live-streamed video. It is apparent that the police were doing their job, and hence we mark the claim as misleading.