The Fête de la Musique took place in a special atmosphere this Sunday in Paris. Faced with the constraints imposed by the Covid-19 epidemic, certain images of crowds gathered in the streets of the capital could collide.
At Jardin Villemin, very close to the Saint-Martin canal, the coronavirus was only a distant memory. A compact crowd of young people danced, without paying much attention to the physical distancing and wearing of the mask. The same scenes were observed on rue de Paradis in the 10th arrondissement, in Ménilmontant in the 20th, but also, it should be remembered, in many cities in the country (Strasbourg, Bordeaux, Nantes…).
In this complex context, the public authorities have obviously played the card of tolerance and appeasement. Often hooted when putting an end to the open-air rallies, the police carried out seven arrests in Paris, the Parisian police headquarters said.
Tensions on the Invalids
Six were made for projectile throwing, one for willful violence against a police officer. The circumstances of his “minor” injuries have not been specified.
VIDEO. Paris: hundreds of people dance on the Saint-Martin canal
The end of the evening was in any case marked by protracted clashes between revelers and police officers at the Invalides level. A police van was the target of numerous projectiles, according to the images collected by BFMTV. The police had intervened to "enforce social distancing," said the police headquarters, without giving details of this episode. The last revelers would have finally left the place around four in the morning.
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"We can not prohibit everything and put a police behind each person," reacted Monday morning Jean-Michel Blanquer at the microphone of France Inter. Faced with this sensitive subject, the Minister of Education did not wish to clear or condemn these festive images. Her transport colleague, Elisabeth Borne, was just as careful. "If we do not want a second wave, we must remain attentive," she simply recalled on BFM.
