While bars have closed in several cities, higher up in the buildings, the music is turned on again, dancing side by side, shutters closed, until the early hours of the morning.
In the midst of the Covid epidemic, the dreaded gatherings, real epidemic centers, no longer take place in clubs but in the privacy of apartments.
And this type of event, which is on the increase, has even become "a phenomenon", in the words of the Paris prefecture.
More than simple parties with friends, some even organize illegal bars in rented accommodation for a weekend while the state of maximum alert has been triggered in the capital and its inner suburbs for a week.
And this is now also the case in Lille, Grenoble, Saint-Etienne and Lyon, as the Minister of Health indicated on Thursday evening.
We were able to enter one of his clandestine parties in the center of Paris.
Inside, more than 80 participants, without masks, mingled in a 60 m², alternating between the dance floor in the living room, the bedroom, transformed into an unbreathable smokehouse and the kitchen, which became a bar.
We were able to go there, claiming to have heard music and to pass by curiosity.
But this is not the rule.
To hope to party as before, you must first contact the organizers via social networks, wait to receive the secret address, revealed at the last moment.
During our visit, if everything was free for girls and boys, they had paid 150 euros entry, including unlimited alcohol and shisha until 7 am.
"Your stupidity is killing us!"
And our report, on the front page of our October 6 newspaper, attracted a lot of readers and media, even Italian ones, with 165,000 visits to our site and mobile, causing strong reactions on social networks.
"Nothing that it cost you 150 €, the problem is the unconsciousness of your actions", protested Louzmi95 on Twitter.
“I accompanied a friend on Friday who buried his 42-year-old wife… Died of Covid.
She was a nurse… Your stupidity is killing us!
», Bounces Lynda, angry when others consider that the debate is not so simple.
"We cannot impose restrictions for too long, the desire to live is always stronger," says another user.
We must find other solutions and not forget that social and economic death can very quickly exceed that of a virus ”.
In the meantime, these paid evenings continue like student parties to the chagrin of the authorities.
Recently in Saint-Etienne, in a heightened alert zone, the birthday of a young person from EM Lyon turned into a giant gathering of nearly 150 night owls in a 60m² space.
An investigation for endangering the life of others has been opened.
