The French parliament has suspended debate on a new Covid 19 law  earlier today as opposition lawmakers demanded explanation from President Emmanuel Macron about comments in which he said  he wanted to “piss off” unvaccinated people.

The French legislators had begun debating a draft bill aimed at replacing France’s COVID health pass with a vaccine pass, as some lawmakers from the governing party said they would not give in to death threats over the legislation.

The new law, if passed, would make it mandatory for people over 12 to present a valid vaccination certificate to enter leisure venues such as restaurants and bars.

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Lawmakers were set to vote on the draft law later on Monday before it goes to the Senate.

France has vaccinated 77 percent of its population and is rushing out booster shots to combat the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

But more than four million adults remain unvaccinated, including more than one million people over age 65.

And for them, public life will be severely restricted as the government rushes out vaccine passes.

Lambasting what he called the “selfishness” of those who oppose immunisations, Health Minister Oliver Veran said, “The aim of this law is not to curb freedoms … it is to save lives.”

“They brandish higher principles, they say they fight for freedom but their fight is petty and knows nothing of the elementary principles that govern how we live together, as a society, including in these difficult times,” Veran said.

With Monday’s debate set to continue into the night, left-wing lawmaker Jean-Luc Melenchon said the proposed law would set up a “totalitarian, authoritarian society”.

In tackling the pandemic, “you have been wrong on everything,” he told the government.