He regrets having been treated like "a thug", just for having "made food to friends", he defends himself.
Arrested in flagrante delicto for having kept his establishment open in violation of health rules, a restaurateur from Neuilly-sur-Seine (Hauts-de-Seine) was placed in police custody on Wednesday.
According to our information, more than twenty guests were seated when the police officers from the Neuilly police station arrived in full service, in this small traditional restaurant that looks like a bistro, shortly after 1:30 p.m., between the pear and the cheese. .
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“From the street, everything seemed normal, slips a police source.
The gates were pulled tight and the padlock was on them, but considering the noise coming from the restaurant, there was no doubt that there were a lot of people inside.
All the customers present were fined.
The restaurateur was arrested, like his server, a friend he had employed without of course declaring it.
"
According to the first elements of the investigation - opened for endangering others, irregular opening of an establishment receiving the public and concealed work - the 60-year-old man opened his restaurant every lunchtime, from Monday to Friday.
Out of sight, he would have set tables for small groups of initiates despite the restrictions imposed on the entire profession in the context of the health crisis.
The regular clientele consisted of those close to the restaurant owner, residents and office workers already loyal to the establishment on the discreet rue Jacques-Dulud before the pandemic.
A circle among which the news of this clandestine opening obviously spread very quickly.
“Advertising was done by word of mouth,” says someone close to the file.
And every noon, five to twenty customers went to lunch there.
"
The restaurateur would have received 20,000 euros in government aid
In this posh district of Neuilly, located a stone's throw from the very busy avenue du Général-de-Gaulle, the practice of the family restaurant, open for about thirty years and renowned as "a friendly address", indeed seemed well known. from the neighborhood.
“I did not really know that we could eat there, nuance a retiree with a benevolent smile.
However, from time to time, I happened to see, at lunchtime, people coming in and out while trying to remain discreet.
So inevitably, I told myself that something was going on ... "
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Further on, the tone is less light.
“Today, we imprison people who simply want to work, gets carried away, ignoring the context.
It's just rubbish, this country is going crazy!
"" He was entertaining a few friends, so what's the harm?
breaths another local resident, clearly annoyed at having seen police officers take over a place where he has his habits.
This restaurant, it belongs to a friend and the truth is that I go there to drink a coffee from time to time without having the feeling of being a criminal ... ”A defense taken up point by point by the incriminated restaurant owner, which assumes to have been "thrown" to the police.
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Met this Friday on the threshold of his establishment, the latter disputes, with drawn features and a blank voice, having maintained daily activity since last November and the establishment of the second confinement.
And if he vaguely recognizes an obscure system of "common pot" set up with his "friends", he also denies having freed himself 2000 euros of monthly income while having benefited, from November to January, of 20,000 euros of government aid.
In any case, this is what emerges from the first police investigations.
"All I did was prepare food for friends who asked me," laments the person, still groggy by his custody, lifted Thursday evening.
But she can resume.
And above all, the restaurateur could well be referred to the criminal court which can impose up to three years of imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros.
“I didn't think I risked being thrown in prison for that, it's amazing,” sighs the restaurateur.