The protest is taking shape in Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône) against the new restrictions because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
"The cup is full", "Let us work", "Unbearable": shouting their anger in an electric atmosphere, several hundred restaurateurs, supported by elected officials from all sides, gathered this Friday morning.
The demonstrators gathered in front of the commercial court, "because we will perhaps come to deposit our balance sheets there", launches them Bernard Marty, president of the Union of trades and industries of the hotel trade of Bouches-du-Rhône.
Bars and restaurants must close from Saturday in the Aix-Marseille metropolis.
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When he pronounces the name of the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, expected in the afternoon in the second city of France, hoots rise from the compact crowd.
"And where is he?"
Let him come here!
», Launches a protester.
"To militate democratically for the moment"
Invited by the prefect to a meeting at the beginning of the afternoon, Bernard Marty affirmed that he would rather go to the University hospital Institute of Didier Raoult, adjoining the Timone, "to see the minister" Olivier Véran, calling all the same in "calm".
Hugo Chauffournier, manager of a bar in the Old Port, assures us that he wants to continue to “campaign democratically for the moment”.
“But if that doesn't work, we'll have to think of other solutions,” he warns.
"We stay open!"
Restaurateurs threaten not to respect the closure measures announced by Olivier Véran.
# COVID19 pic.twitter.com/pgXO2uTpLh
- Clément Lanot (@ClementLanot) September 25, 2020
United against government measures, announced without consultation according to them, elected officials from all sides joined the demonstration.
Upon their arrival, Martine Vassal, LR president of the Aix-Marseille metropolis and the Bouches-du-Rhône department, and Renaud Muselier, LR president of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, are applauded.
"It is important to support them to say that we are all in the same boat," says Martine Vassal.
"The municipal police will not issue a ticket"
"I am going to tell Olivier Véran that he is not the one who gives food to the employees of these restaurants, of these bars, who will find themselves unemployed because Mr. Véran has unilaterally decided to close them", adds Samia Ghali, second assistant to the town hall with AFP.
Asked by BFMTV, she adds that “the municipal police will not issue a ticket to open restaurants and bars”.
“The municipal police have other missions […] I would prefer that, tomorrow, the national police force be where it should be, where we have problems with wild rodeos […] the burglary problems, the drug problems , rather than going to verbalize traders who are trying to make a living and make the French economy work.
"
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The elected representative also specified to support the approach of Renaud Muselier, president of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, who announced that he wanted to file an interim relief against the prefectural decree imposing the new measures.
As I was committed, I stand this morning, in front of the commercial court of #Marseille, alongside the restaurateurs, cafetiers and all those who in @MaRegionSud do not understand the measurements.
As soon as the decree is published, we will file an appeal!
# COVID19 pic.twitter.com/xip4bhYPXy
- Renaud Muselier (@RenaudMuselier) September 25, 2020
The turn of the screw announced Wednesday evening in the fight against Covid by the Minister of Health Olivier Véran, defended by Prime Minister Jean Castex on France 2 on Thursday, caused an uproar, and not only in Marseille and its region.
Bars and restaurants will also have to close at 10 p.m. from Monday in 11 metropolises, including Paris, Lyon or Nice, all in “enhanced alert zones”.
Some room for maneuver could be granted to restaurants from time to time.
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In Marseille, Professor Didier Raoult relaunched this Friday the debate around the figures of the epidemic and the need for new measures in Marseille.
“The data from Public Health France (consolidated) are not able to justify the slightest panic concerning the circulation of the virus in Marseille.
Other departments, on the other hand, are far from having reached their epidemic peak for this phase ”.
According to a figure released Thursday evening by the ARS (Regional Health Agency), the incidence rate of the virus in Marseille was 281 per 100,000 inhabitants on September 20, down from that noted a week earlier, from 331. According to the latest national report, 16,096 new cases of Covid-19 have been recorded in 24 hours, a level not reached since the launch of large-scale tests in the country.