It usually attracts some two million visitors: the Strasbourg Christmas market will be held "under very high security with considerable means", in a local health context also marked by a resumption of the Covid-19 epidemic, indicated Wednesday the organizers.
Canceled last year due to the Covid-19 epidemic, this market intervenes again this year "in a delicate security and health context", with "a particularly high level of terrorist threat (...)", declared during a press conference the prefect of the Grand Est region, Josiane Chevalier.
“Strasbourg, Christmas capital with an international dimension, is not spared,” she continued, recalling that the market had been bereaved in 2018 by an attack that killed five people.
According to the prefect, the 451st edition, scheduled from November 26 to December 26, will take place "under very high security with considerable resources".
On the side of the police, "more than 700 people" will be mobilized.
Random checks, the squared hyper center
The principle of systematic checks at check-points, introduced after 2018 but frowned upon by visitors and residents of Strasbourg, has been abandoned in favor of "random, numerous and dynamic checks" operated by the police within the market which will be less concentrated, added Ms. Chevalier. By a "fine grid" of the hypercentre, "we want to create insecurity" for individuals who wish to commit a malicious act, justified Laurent Tarasco, departmental director of public security of Bas-Rhin.
There will be “21 access points” to the market, including four dedicated to vehicles which will be systematically searched by the municipal police.
At each of the other access points, random checks, provided by private companies, may however be carried out on pedestrians or cyclists, according to Mr. Tarasco.
The soldiers of Operation Sentinel will be supported by dog handlers.
No health pass at this stage
At the health level, "the pass will not be required" to access the market but the mask will be mandatory, said Jeanne Barseghian, environmental mayor of Strasbourg.
Visitors will be invited not to consume pretzels, sweets and other mulled wine in front of the chalets but to go to specially equipped “food corner”, she added.
Ms Chevalier and Ms Barseghian indicated that they were not considering canceling the contract at this stage due to the health situation.
But they stressed that if the incidence rate were to exceed 200, the health pass could be required to consume in specially dedicated spaces (“food courts”).