Are Ile-de-France residents good students, returning home at 6 p.m.
According to some elected officials, the best remains to be done in the application of the curfew in force, first set at 8 p.m. from December 15, then hardened since January 16.
This is also the proposal that emerged, as an alternative to confinement, during discussions initiated at the end of February.
When other mayors, like that of Sceaux (Hauts-de-Seine) and secretary general of the Association of Mayors of France (AMF) Philippe Laurent (UDI) demanded to postpone it to 7 pm: “There is no not enough time, especially in Ile-de-France […] This creates crowds.
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No official figures
Crowds supposed to be closely watched.
On February 4, the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, assured that throughout France, "controls have been strengthened in a very significant way and will continue to be in the coming days".
Requested, the ministry and its branches were not able to provide us with figures on the precise situation in Ile-de-France, while the first region of France has swung into the red, epidemic side.
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"405 euros, there are three of us in the car": in Seine-et-Marne, the authorities are raising the tone
In this prefecture in the south of the outer suburbs, the instructions are clear.
“We are no longer in pedagogy.
We must now be strict in the application of the curfew.
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In the Val-d'Oise alone, until March 1, nearly 27,000 checks were carried out, resulting in some 6,400 fines for non-compliance with the curfew.
And this, with the support in particular of the municipal police, as in Mantes-la-Jolie (Yvelines) again this weekend.
But in the cities, where housing is more cramped, it is necessary to know "to manage between pedagogy and sanction", as indicated, at the time of his arrival, the new prefect of Val-de-Marne, Sophie Thibault.
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So what is it really on the ground?
We went to Paris, Choisy-le-Roi (Val-de-Marne) and Charny, a village in Seine-et-Marne.
"The curfew is not respected" on the slab of Choisy-le-Roi
Choisy-le-Roi (Val-de-Marne), Tuesday March 9, 2021. At 6 pm, there are still people on the slab.
LP / Fanny Delporte
It is a little after 6 pm, on the slab of Choisy-le-Roi, and a pink sunset floods this immense ensemble from the end of the 1960s. A can of beer in hand, Abel and his friend redo the world a few meters from the Covid-19 screening tent.
“We are there because we are waiting for a result, but we are ready to leave, he wants to reassure, we are going.
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A retiree sits on a bench but ensures that she will go home "very quickly".
“Today, I was in class from 8 am to 6 pm,” says a teenager.
We stay here a little and, when we're fed up, we go home.
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This is also what said this young woman who crosses the slab with a very quiet step, without certificate.
What if she gets checked out?
“I don't know,” she replies with a big smile.
Sometimes I even come home after 7 p.m.
"Nobody respects the curfew," she admits.
In Paris, the inhabitants allow themselves small deviations
Paris (IVe), Tuesday March 9, 2021. Christine drinks a beer with friends at 7 pm.
LP / Philippe Baverel
At 6.30 p.m. this Tuesday, there is no one on the Place des 260-Enfants (Paris IVe), so called in memory of the students of the Hospitallers-Saint-Gervais school who died in deportation.
In the heart of the Marais, the contrast is striking compared to Friday, January 15, the last day before the advance of the curfew at 6 p.m.
That evening, a hundred young people, goblets of beer or mulled wine in hand, had gathered, ignoring the sanitary instructions.
Two months later, the curfew almost seems to have passed.
In the small streets of the Marais, furtive silhouettes hurry.
Like Valérie, a 48-year-old architect: “I work from home three quarters of the time.
But I take care of the external meetings on the sites ”, she testifies.
At the stroke of 7 p.m., in a street leading to Place des Vosges, three men and a woman drink a beer on the sidewalk.
“It is not forbidden to take a last drink in sliced!
Exclaims Christine, 54 years old.
“I am teleworking.
If I don't go out for a drink in the evening with friends from the neighborhood, I have the impression of being in prison ”, confesses, for his part, Michaël, 43 years old.
In the village of Charny, "people are quite disciplined"
Charny (Seine-et-Marne), Tuesday March 9, 2021. A few minutes from the curfew, the streets of the small village.
LP / Timothée Talbi
It is 5:00 pm in Charny (Seine-et-Marne) and the time for the curfew is approaching.
In the line of the bakery, Patricia evokes, not without a touch of fatalism: “I used to do my shopping after 6 pm but, now, I do not go out after this time.
»Vanessa, Franck and their child take advantage of these last minutes of freedom to take a bike ride.
The church bell rings six times.
The streets are now almost deserted, apart from a few residents who drop off their bulky items in front of their homes for collection the next day.
Only Christine, the pharmacist, remains open until 7:30 pm: "It's to allow patients to come after their medical appointment after 6:00 pm"
The mayor, Xavier Ferreira, underlines the civic spirit of the inhabitants: “People are quite disciplined, I do not have to be the gendarme, even if there are always two or three young people who still hang out after 6 pm.
We are lucky to be in a suburban village, so we suffer less than in apartments in the city.
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