Lille bar bosses demonstrate against the closure at 10 p.m. -

20 minutes

  • Due to the coronavirus, the Lille metropolitan area has been placed in a heightened alert zone.

    As a result, bars must close at 10 p.m.

  • The owners of the establishments concerned demonstrated on Tuesday evening.

    There were around 200 protesters, including customers.

The party is over.

Since Monday, bars in Lille have been required to close their doors between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.

The measure was taken by prefectural decree for a period of 15 days (renewable) after the metropolis was classified in an enhanced alert zone due to a spectacular rebound in the coronavirus epidemic.

A directive experienced as a punishment by bar owners and their customers, especially as restaurant owners are not concerned.

A demonstration was also organized, Tuesday evening, in the city center of Lille.

In a brasserie bar on rue Pierre-Mauroy, a stone's throw from the Place du Concert, a few regular customers are enjoying their last beer on the terrace before the fateful hour.

For the boss, the prefect's new directives have not changed much to his way of working, his establishment usually closing before the deadline imposed because of the coronavirus.

The question of parties in the apartments

As the clock in the belfry of the chamber of commerce marks just 10 p.m., clusters of young people begin to arrive to gather at the foot of a building in the street.

They are thus several dozen to rush there, loaded with bags that make bling-bling.

One even wears a good big pregnant.

When we ask one of them what they plan to do, he sends us to graze, refusing to answer us for the sake of discretion.

A demeanor that does not surprise us more, since the upsurge in private chouilles is one of the main arguments of the owners of bistros to contest the closure of their establishments at 10 pm.

An argument that can also be found written in black and white on the signs brandished by the 200 demonstrators gathered from 10:30 pm on the Place du Général-de-Gaulle: “Framed in the bars, crowded into the apartments”.

“Since June 2, the date of reopening of our establishments, we have been protecting our employees and our customers with strict measures,” says Guillaume Delbarre, boss of the Privilege and member of the “Hand in hand to save our professions” collective.

"

For the professionals present at the demonstration, the closure at 10 pm is perceived as a punishment "because a minority does not respect the sanitary measures", assures Guillaume Delbarre.

He himself received a formal notice before administrative closure during the Braderie weekend because, according to him, one of his servers was wearing his mask badly.

"We must stop stigmatizing us, future clusters, it is in private parties that they will develop," he laments.

"Let us work, we don't want to die"

With the closing at 12:30 am, the professionals still ensured they could get by.

But 10 p.m. is the last straw.

On this point, but not for the same reasons, they are also joined by the mayor of Lille, Martine Aubry, who considered that this measure was "ineptitude".

“We had already been promised zero expenditure, except that we are still waiting for aid.

Let us work, we don't want to die, ”asks Guillaume Delbarre.

A “Pas-de-Calais club owner”, as he introduces himself, addresses the crowd in turn: “For seven months, we haven't fought and you see the result, we are still closed, he shouts.

Don't be like us!

"Advice that has not fallen on deaf ears since the bar owners have planned to meet again on the Grand'place in a week if their request does not succeed.

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