French police fired tear gas at demonstrators on the Champs-Elysees avenue and other places in Paris on Saturday after a “Freedom Convoy” protesting against Covid-19 restrictions made it into the capital.

Vehicles carrying protesters managed to get through police checkpoints in central Paris to snarl traffic around the Arc de Triomphe monument.

Inspired by horn-blaring “Freedom Convoy” demonstrations in Canada, motorists waved French flags and honked in defiance of a police order not to enter the city.

Police also threw tear gas grenades to disperse protestors, who are against a vaccine pass required to enter many public places, near the Arc de Triomphe and sprayed demonstrators in a separate march on the other side of the city.

“The vaccine pass is necessary to be able to work or play sports. We can’t stand the vaccine pass any more,” said Nathalie Galdeano who came from southwest France by bus to participate in the protests.

“We don’t want this injection, we want to have the right to choose,” she told Reuters.