Three small towns in the Bouches-du-Rhône asked the Marseille administrative court on Friday 23 October to cancel the curfew measures against them, considering that they were less affected by the Covid-19 than large cities like Marseille or Aix- in Provence.
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Since October 17, 90 municipalities in the Aix-Marseille metropolis have been subject to a curfew between 9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.
"
The prefect applies the measure indiscriminately, while the department is characterized by great diversity
", regretted Me Sylvain Carmier, lawyer for the three applicant municipalities, Cornillon-Confoux, Saint-Marc Jaumegarde and Mimet, which respectively number 1300, 1400 and 4600 inhabitants.
“
Excluding Aix-en-Provence and Marseille, the incidence rates are below 250
”, a threshold beyond which the government considers the situation worrying, pleaded Sylvain Carmier.
The first mayor at the origin of such an appeal, which puts the four businesses in his town "
in difficulty
", Daniel Gagnon asked that the situation of Cornillon-Confoux be examined "
in detail
".
The court will issue its order on Saturday
"
The only two cases detected (in the town, editor's note) are students who live in Marseille
", he said, adding that the inhabitants of his town do not depend on the employment areas of Aix-en -Provence or Marseille.
The defense demanded that the prefectural decree instituting the curfew be suspended and that a new one be taken, "
on the basis of objective criteria
", such as the incidence rate or the size of the municipality.
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"
The virus itself does not distinguish the specificities that make the charm of our small towns
", retorted Thierry Servia, who represented the prefecture of Bouches-du-Rhône, arguing that the incidence rate across the department reached 350, above the national average.
"
We have alarming clues that justify the curfew,
" he continued.
The court will issue its order on Saturday.
Three other municipalities in the department also filed an appeal for interim relief on Friday to challenge the curfew.
The Council of State validated on Friday the introduction of the curfew introduced last week in 16 departments to fight against the spread of the Covid-19 epidemic, considering that this measure did not "constitute
a manifestly illegal attack on freedoms fundamental
”.
The curfew measures will be extended to 38 departments from Friday at midnight.