Bars and restaurants in Aix-en-Provence and Marseille must keep their curtains drawn on Monday, September 28.
The prefectural decree deciding the total closure of these establishments, announced on Wednesday by the Minister of Health, was published on Sunday.
To read also: "It's catastrophic": bars and restaurants in shock after the announcements of Olivier Véran
In these two municipalities, in a "
maximum alert zone
" in the face of Covid-19, bars and restaurants will keep their doors closed until October 11 inclusive, except for possible delivery and take-out activities, according to the decree signed by the prefect of Bouches-du-Rhône Christophe Mirmand.
These measures may be "
re-examined
" before the deadline of October 11, in eight days, depending on the epidemic indicators of the Regional Health Agency of the Paca region, specifies the order.
A collective action in summary proceedings
As soon as this decree was officially published, the LR president of the Provence-Alpes-Côte D'Azur region, Renaud Muselier, announced that he had filed a collective action for interim relief, before the administrative court of Marseille, against this total closure imposed in bars and restaurants in Marseille and Aix.
This appeal is brought by 20 catering professionals from Marseille and Aix-en-Provence, by local representatives of the business world and the sector, as well as by the Paca region, the Bouches-du-Rhône department, the metropolis Aix-Marseille-Provence and the city of Aix-en-Provence.
Among the institutions, only the city of Marseille, led by the left, with the ecologist Michèle Rubirola as mayor, has therefore not joined this process.
"
It is the law which decides (ra)
", insists Renaud Muselier in his press release, specifying that he "
would never call for civil disobedience
".
Partial closure in 15 other surrounding towns
These new measures therefore do not concern the 90 other municipalities of the Aix-Marseille-Provence metropolis, an area of 3,000 km2 for 1.8 million inhabitants.
This development had already filtered Friday after the meeting between Minister Olivier Véran and several elected officials of the department at the prefecture in Marseille.
At the end of this meeting, LR president of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, Renaud Muselier, also announced that the implementation of these new directives was postponed to Sunday instead of Saturday.
The closure of bars and restaurants will certainly affect fifteen other municipalities in the department, La Ciotat, Arles, Gardanne or Martigues in particular.
But, in these cities, these establishments will only have to close between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
Read also: Covid-19: the total closure of bars and restaurants only concerns Marseille and Aix-en-Provence
These measures unveiled Wednesday triggered the anger of professionals and many elected officials of the Aix-Marseille-Provence metropolis and in particular of the first deputy mayor of Marseille, Benoît Payan, who had spoken of "
an affront
" to the second city in France .
If some managers of bars or restaurants in Marseille and Aix threatened to defy this new ban on opening, the departmental president of the Union of trades and hospitality industries clearly advised them against Sunday, on the air of France Bleu Provence: "
Otherwise some of them will be punished and we will have all the difficulties to defend them
", warned Bernard Marty, announcing on the other hand "
legal and physical actions in the hours or days to come
".