A man who claims to go surfboard shopping under his arm, people who are coming back from a birthday, families who are escaping from a fortnight ... Overseas, confinement, well followed at first, is now less respected, note the authorities, which are gradually tightening the measures.
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In Guadeloupe, the overseas department with the highest number of deaths (8), this relaxation seems more marked in areas " close to the beaches ", according to a gendarme from Grande-Terre, who says he is " sometimes disappointed and challenged by the reasons given ". He thus verbalized " surfers who wanted to take advantage of the northern swell ", and the next day, " surfboard under his arm ", an individual who " was going to do his shopping ".
A police source estimates that " between 10 and 20% of vehicles or people checked " have " no certificate or falsify the cause of their displacement ". And " it would be even more if we did not show discernment, " confirms a gendarme.
A commander of a Basse-Terre gendarmerie company tells of these people " who say they are going to feed the animals while they are on foot, empty-handed ", or these " two people who presented a certificate with a false excuse when we were in the middle of a curfew and who finally recognized that they were coming back from a birthday ”.
Traffic has increased
All note that traffic has intensified, sometimes even causing slowdowns which had completely disappeared since the start of confinement, extended until May 11 Monday by Emmanuel Macron throughout the national territory.
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“ There are a lot of vehicles in the morning and few in the afternoon. These last days it is even more true because the announced curfew incited the citizens to go shopping ", recognizes the prefect Philippe Gustin. " The next day there was a line in the stores ." " In general, I note that there is a relaxation compared to the first period of confinement, that is certain ".
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General Thierry Renard, commander of the gendarmerie of Guadeloupe and the northern islands, abounds: “ We have 600 gendarmes on the ground every day who control 1,200 to 1,500 vehicles. Of course there are verbalizations. (...) There are always temptations, in certain districts or villages, sports zones where people gather ”.
"The irresponsible who endanger the lives of others"
Same observation in Martinique. " We had motorists who claimed to return from racing but, in their car, there was only a bottle of coke, " said France-Antilles Martinique, commissioner Jean-Pierre Frédéric.
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In Reunion, which has the highest number of positive cases (389), evening gatherings in front of supermarkets have also become more numerous, as have groupings around local shops serving alcohol, forcing the prefect Jacques Billant to order the closure of all shops each evening at 7 p.m.
Similarly, faced with the crowds on the beaches for sports - which remained authorized with a certificate, even if swimming and sunbathing on the sand were prohibited -, the prefect prohibited Friday access to the beaches . These bans " target irresponsible people who mock the rules and endanger the lives of others, " commented Jacques Billant.
Surfing by helicopter
But in Saint-Leu on Saturday, a gendarmerie helicopter surprised surfers in the waves, forcing them to get out of the water by flying overhead. The offenders fled before the helicopter landed on the beach.
The prefect also denounced at the beginning of the week " the irresponsible act " of several people, arrived by plane in Reunion, who had fled after two days the hotel where they had been placed in the fortnight, judging the conditions of " unlivable " accommodation.
In New Caledonia, a family returning from Australia, placed in a fortnight in a four-star hotel in Nouméa, has also made love. " Having refused to return there of their own free will, " the members of this family were brought back by the police, the High Commission announced, also denouncing " irresponsibility ".