The decision of the mayor of Perpignan, Louis Aliot (RN), to reopen four museums in the city had been challenged in summary by the prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales.
The administrative court of Montpellier (Hérault) ruled on Monday: the four establishments will have to close their doors.
During the hearing on Monday morning, the representative of the prefect notably highlighted the health situation, referring to "a record of hospitalizations" - 159 cases - in Perpignan currently.
He also based his request for interim suspension on the government decree of October 29, 2020, which provides for “a complete ban on the opening of museums”.
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For his part, Louis Aliot argued that he had not reopened the fifteen cultural places in the city but "only four museums" which depend on the municipality.
Among them, the Hyacinthe-Rigaud museum which, according to him, has welcomed around 2,000 people since its reopening on Tuesday.
The mayor of Perpignan was based on "the improvement of the figures and the health situation", stressing that the Occitanie region, the department of Pyrénées-Orientales and Perpignan were "not among the most contaminated areas".
In this context, according to him, "the ban on opening cultural places is no longer justified" and "the local authorities and especially the town hall of Perpignan are able to assess what is dangerous and what is not. is not ".
Bachelot is waiting for "a decline" to reopen the museums
Louis Aliot also insisted on “the reinforced health protection measures” taken by the city on the occasion of the opening of these four museums.
"We simply took into account the health context and our cultural facilities and the voices that are raised from cultural and popular circles, of those who want to have access to the world of the spirit" and not only to what is commercial , he concluded, assuring that the municipality had "not exceeded" its rights.
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A week ago, the Minister of Culture Roselyne Bachelot reiterated that museums and monuments would be the first to reopen "when we have a recession", criticizing "purely political initiatives (which) do not defend the cause of culture ".
But in the cultural sector, voices are rising increasingly to contest the closure of cultural venues by the government, while most businesses or cults continue to operate during the Covid-19 pandemic.