The Covid-19 does not seem to be dangerous every other night in Paris. The non-observance of the curfew was firmly verbalized at 11:02 p.m., on the quays in Paris, this Thursday evening. While from this weekend, it will again be possible to circulate freely throughout the night since the minister has announced the end of the curfew. Already Tuesday, for France-Germany, great clemency, "discernment and leniency" had been requested by the government from the police. And six days earlier, for the semi-final at Roland Garros pitting Nadal and Djokovic against each other, a waiver had been obtained because the match was not over at 11 p.m.
But the police had planned to strike a blow this Thursday, after being overwhelmed for several days in a row by wild outdoor parties at the Trocadéro or the Tuileries.
The deployment is therefore consequent.
Each street is blocked by many vans and heavily equipped gendarmes patrolled in groups of 15 in several major Parisian arteries… For almost nothing.
Because the rain slowed down the revelers.
Surprised by the rain, they take shelter under a bridge
However, some groups leave Rosa Bonheur sur Seine or Flow, on the Quai d'Orsay ((7th)) around 10:45 pm. Most of them have a cardboard glass in their hand, to finish quietly on the way home. But the rain is redoubling. About thirty revelers decide to take refuge under the Alexandre III bridge to let the storm pass and finish talking. Some have been squatting there for several minutes to grab a bite to eat and others have probably even spent their late evening among students, sipping a bottle of cheap wine.
It is 11:02 p.m., the two piles of the bridge are stormed on each side by a column of gendarmes.
Caught in a pincer movement, the thirty party animal thinks it is time to leave.
No.
It's a roadblock and the message is clear: “Take out all your papers, we are issuing a ticket for non-compliance with the curfew.
"Negotiation is impossible, even in contempt of ecology:" Do not finish your glasses, you empty them on the ground or in the Seine.
"
30 fines at 135 euros
In spite of everything, one of the gendarmes seems to be uncomfortable with the instructions, while others prefer to shout: “Too bad you should have left directly at 10:45 pm.
The revelers reply that they were coming home and that two days earlier and in two days it will be possible to stay.
“Yes there are sometimes exemptions,” he admits.
"It's still ridiculous to block us all and health level it's great to hug us against each other, you are only there to fill the state coffers, it's shameful", quips one young.
Finally, the thirty or so people who took refuge under the bridge will be fined and the operation will have taken… 1h15.
"I missed the last RER because of them," sighs a young forty-something in a small skirt.
Relieved of 135 €, but dry.
