From Menton to Théoule-sur-Mer, the streets and sites, usually very busy at this time of year, were generally deserted this Saturday, the first day of weekend confinement for 90% of the population of the Alps- Maritimes.
The massive deployment of several hundred police forces, who carried out numerous checks on a large coastal strip of the Alpes-Maritimes, and gloomy weather are undoubtedly for something.
In Nice, we still burned the "Carnavalovirus"
Access prohibited to beaches, closure of the south sidewalk of the Promenade des Anglais, along the sea, four non-food markets and playgrounds in two city parks: Nice had taken additional measures to avoid any gathering this week -end in a town where the incidence rate broke records (603) on Friday, according to the Regional Health Agency.
Is this why many inhabitants chose exile to go in particular to the ski resorts of the Nice hinterland before the Côte d'Azur was put under cover?
No doubt, judging by the impressive lines of cars.
"There was twice as much traffic on these axes as an equivalent Friday," confirms the sub-prefect of Grasse, Anne Frackowiak-Jacobs.
VIDEO. Covid-19: these Azureans take refuge in the mountains "to escape confinement"
This Saturday, the city looked like a long gray Sunday out of season.
This did not prevent a collective citizen and some sympathizers yellow vests to try to organize a wild carnival and several animations to “contest the sanitary measures” place Garibaldi.
After a call on Facebook, some disguised moms and children are there.
For nothing.
The police prevented this event from taking place and fined several people.
The city seems calm.
Barely crowded on the inner streets.
The ban on access to the Promenade des Anglais and the beaches is resisting as best it can.
To the west of the city, on a road check, a national police officer takes stock: “Frankly, we had to make 250 to 300 cars and each had a valid certificate and a good reason to leave.
The commotion is more to be found near the airport, at the end of the day.
Holidaymakers leave for Paris in particular and get busy on boarding.
As curfew time approaches, sweaty joggers and a few skateboarders are quietly resisting on the Prom.
Eliane and Kevin attempt a photo at sunset before being intercepted by a municipal policewoman on an ATV.
They have just landed for three days of romantic vacation.
“We didn't know it was forbidden, it sucks!
»They curse.
VIDEO. Partial confinement in Nice: the Promenade des Anglais deserted
This Saturday evening, the mayor, Christian Estrosi, welcomed the fact that “the people of Nice have generally respected confinement”.
According to him, his municipal police drew up 214 verbalizations, 136 for lack of certification, 66 for not wearing a mask and… 12 for banning traffic on the Promenade des Anglais.
Deprived of carnival, the city even respected the tradition of burning a tank in the early evening: this year, it was a giant coronavirus, the “Carnavalovirus”.
This one has been defeated, the real one will wait a little longer.
In Antibes, almost empty streets
The birthday cake will have cost them dearly!
On this Saturday afternoon, while around twenty national and municipal police officers control all vehicles on the seaside road, at Fort Carré, a mother and her adult daughter will not escape the 135 euros of fine.
“We had just picked up a pastry that we had to bring home to Cagnes-sur-Mer.
I am a nurse, I could have told you that I was working, you are not going to ticket me!
»Justifies the mother.
"Ladies, the schedule for your certificate is well overdue and your home is much further than the 5 km allowed", retorts an agent patiently.
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In just over an hour, around ten tickets were issued in our presence.
Relatively few compared to the number of vehicles passing through the area.
But impossible to have the final quantified assessment of the operation that "only the prefect can communicate" (or not), we are told.
A few kilometers in the city center, rare walkers take in the windy air of the coast.
The streets are almost empty, after a slightly more lively morning according to several accounts.
In Menton, a deserted market and few cars
In the market, market gardeners and dealers had half as many customers as usual.
/ LP / Matthias Galante
Unlike Nice, the seaside was not banned in Menton this weekend.
It was even completely pedestrianized by the town hall.
At the end of the morning, however, few of them took advantage of the panorama and the absence of cars.
Normally, the Lemon Festival would be in full swing in streets teeming with people.
Fabienne, 56, and her husband, Daniel, 66, Parisians on vacation, are divided.
“We have our certificate for the races and we walk around a bit.
Here, we are less crowded than in the capital and undoubtedly safer from a health point of view, they explain.
But we've never seen the town like this, so deserted.
It's very weird, very sad!
"
The city center market is also very quiet.
Roberto, who sells magnificent fruit grown in the neighboring Italian town of Ventimiglia, where a PCR test is required to cross the border, is amazed: “There are 30 to 35% fewer customers, he says.
We pay for the ten c… who do not make the effort while there are thousands of us doing well.
"But behind the crisis, man sees a small ray of hope:" In the short term, there will be damage but, in the longer term, it will perhaps have beneficial effects on the environment, such as we could see it with the first confinement.
"
In Cannes, police officers in front of the Palais des Festivals
On the Croisette in Cannes, around the Palais des Festivals, it's great calm./LP/Matthias Galante
“When I come home from work at McDonald's after curfew, I have the impression that everyone is dead and that I am alone.
There, it's a bit the same.
“Beatrice, 19, takes advantage of a busy, very photogenic sky at the start of the afternoon on the Croisette, to immortalize the scene on her smartphone.
“Last Sunday was full of people,” she says.
I'm still afraid that this partial confinement will be useless.
I would have preferred total containment for it to finally work!
"
In front of the Palais des Festivals, three municipal police officers, equipped with FFP2 masks, are stationed near their truck.
They don't have much to do: the rare walkers do not pass near them.
The red carpet, rolled out on the steps of a Palace that has been deprived of events for many months, is quite alone.
Like the rue d'Antibes, the commercial axis par excellence of the town, totally empty.
VIDEO. Partial confinement in the Alpes-Maritimes: "We're fed up, we're tired," say the people of Cannes
The night before, however, was more nightmarish: a man was stabbed with about 20 stab wounds by two men on scooters in the west of the city.
Two municipal and national police officers were injured during a control to disperse a group of fifteen individuals who had gathered after the time of the curfew and the start of confinement.
An armed man fled in a car, hitting the two officers.
Two shots were fired by the police, who were able to intercept the two fugitives.
