Bastille Day Scandal: Any Person, French or Foreign, Wishing to View the Tuesday Parade Must Wear a QR Code; Deafening Silence from France's Media Outlets

Which French scandal is worst? The fact that the French authorities have decided to impose QR codes on all people, French as well as foreign tourists, who wish to attend Tuesday's Bastille Day parade on the Champs-Élysées? Or the fact that hardly any news outlet has seen fit to even mention the decision?

That is the question asked by the Moranidini website as well as by CNews, the right-leaning TV news program regularly described as fascist and whose license is under constant threat by the authorities. 

For the first time ever, you cannot just wander over to the most famous street in Paris and simply join the crowd (the same, incidentally, is increasingly true of museums; a stroller cannot be spontaneous and just walk in; he has to sign in beforehand on the internet), something that is dubious foreign tourists have heard about.

 … for the first time, anyone wishing to attend the July 14th military parade on the Champs-Élysées will be required to register in advance. Access for the general public—excluding official guests—will be reserved exclusively for spectators holding a personalized QR code. Registration must be completed via an online platform managed by the Office of the President of the Republic.

… Detractors denounce a departure from the popular, free, and traditionally open nature of the Bastille Day parade. The authorities respond that a gathering bringing together tens of thousands of people and several heads of state now requires exceptional precautions.

Well, there you have it: Perhaps le président de la République simply wants to be spared from being booed, as happened during last year's 14 juillet, on what will be this Tuesday Emmanuel Macron's final Bastille Day parade.

For half a decade, libertarians have been wondering what, following in the wake of the Covid lockdown, would be the next attempt on people's liberties — predicting it would be some sort of new disease (real or imagined); who could have foreseen that it would center on a military parade on the Champs-Élysées in Paris?

14 juillet : Le scandale des "QR code" obligatoires imposés par l'Elysée, pour la première fois, pour assister dans la foule au défilé militaire à Paris - Le silence assourdissant des médias - Vidéo