The mayor EELV of Lyon regretted Monday the announcement "
without consultation
" by the government of the closure of bars in his city from 10 p.m. to fight against the spread of Covid-19, saying he was surprised by a "
brutal change of method
" .
Read also: Bars and restaurants in Marseille and Aix-en-Provence have been closed since Sunday evening
"
The new measures announced Wednesday by the minister came up against the previous ones announced (two days earlier, note) by the prefect, which had been discussed and concerted,
" regretted Grégory Doucet to the press.
On September 23, the Minister of Health Olivier Véran announced that Lyon had been placed, like ten other cities such as Paris, Nice, or Lille, in a heightened alert zone, as part of new restrictive measures in the face of the upsurge of Covid-19 cases.
This classification generates a battery of health measures including the closure of bars at 10 p.m. maximum as of Monday.
"
I am surprised by this sudden change of method whereas a few days before, Prime Minister Jean Castex had called me to congratulate us on the good collaboration with the prefecture
", underlined the new mayor of Lyon, before his municipal council of back to school.
For lack of consultation, "
I think the latest announcements create division, and in this moment of rebound of the epidemic that does not seem to me to be the right strategy
", he insisted.
In addition, the councilor says he is "
skeptical
" about this measure concerning drinking places, which, according to him, "
risks moving the population from private space to public space
".
“
At 10pm, if you are with friends in a bar and the bar tells you that it is closing, you go out and continue your convivial moment outside.
And there the masks are not necessarily put
", he estimated, stressing that, if"
we see a progression of the mask during the day, in the evening in the places of festive gatherings the percentage of wearing of mask collapses
".
"
We would have much more to gain from making entrepreneurs and bar owners responsible rather than asking them to close,
" added Mr. Doucet.
In addition, the elected EELV indicated that he did not wish to give up as of now the Festival of Lights, scheduled for early December, giving himself "
until mid-November for a final decision
".
Read also: Anti-Covid-19 restrictions: bar bosses demonstrated in Paris
A “
suitable
” party will be held if the authorized tonnage is 5,000 people or more, he added.
Traditionally, this event brings together hundreds of thousands of people in the city center.
Bordeaux also critical of the government
His Bordeaux counterpart, EELV mayor Pierre Hurmic, also denounced the lack of “
consultation
” and assured France Info that he was “
struggling
” to understand the new restrictions in the metropolis “
because of their severity.
I even want to say their brutality
”.
For Bordeaux, Mr. Hurmic spoke of an "
extremely limited
"
consultation
with the prefecture.
We learned about the measures "
suddenly without any prior consultation, neither with local elected officials nor with professionals,
" he said.
"
I think it is better for young people to be in cafes where it is supervised, rather than end the evening in apartments, or even studios,
" he added.
"
The municipal police will continue to enforce instructions, even if these instructions, we reserve the right to discuss them
", says the ecological mayor who suggests that a point be made "
after eight days
" on their effectiveness .
SEE ALSO
- In Paris, demonstration of bar managers against the toughening of health measures