- From now on, the movements of the French are regulated, and are subject to control by the police.
- In Cassis, the gendarmes, who wanted to be pedagogues, face a population sometimes understanding, sometimes taken aback.
- The police themselves have questions for the moment unanswered.
From our special correspondent in Cassis
"Dispersion alert" smiles Frédéric Coulomb in his blue municipal police uniform. In the distance, two elderly people are slowly fleeing as the patrol approaches the couple. Their wrong? To sit for a long time on a bench which runs along the port of Cassis, to contemplate the boats. A scene to say the least banal a few hours ago in this town of Bouches-du-Rhône, but now completely prohibited by the government, epidemic of Covid-19 requires.
Since this Tuesday, the movement of all French people is strictly limited, and everyone must now have the famous declaration on their honor to justify their trip with the police, detailing the nature of their movement. Police and gendarmes now patrol the streets, like Major François Raffin and Captain Jean-Noël Hinsinger, on the lookout for the slightest sign of life in Cassis.
"I think it goes a bit far"
"Do you need a paper to piss the dog now?" At the height of his 72 years, Christian can't believe his ears. "Ah, that's the gag! I think it goes a little far ... Fortunately I did not experience the war! "
"It's for your own good," tries Captain Hinsinger, who reminds him of the fine of up to 135 euros that the septuagenarian incurs if he is checked again ... The gendarmes were instructed at the start of this week to walk the streets not for the first time to verbalize, but, they ensure it, for purposes initially "educational", so that everyone is informed.
"Do you think I'm going to tap a keyboard?" "
A necessity sometimes with some Cassidains, who do not hide a certain reluctance. "We checked four young people who were playing paddle in a club that is now closed," annoyed Dominique, a municipal police officer. "I agree with this measure, even if, at the same time, it annoys me a little, explains on the port of Cassis Ginette. It still deprives us of our freedom… ”
The old lady has no paper on her. And for good reason: she has neither a computer nor the Internet. "At 88, do you think I'm going to tap on a keyboard?" ", She says. "Don't you have family who can print this document for you?" You should ask them, ”suggests the major.
"A brief trip"
The gendarmes also seem to be one of the rare sources of information for the Cassidains, somewhat lost in the face of rather vague instructions from the government. "Can we still see the sunset? », Says a lady. "We just allow you a short trip near your home," says the captain ...
A notion which poses difficulty, including to the police who have the free appreciation of its definition. "I checked a cyclist earlier in Cassis who came from Aubagne, I told him that he was not in good standing, because he was not near his town," said the captain. The gendarmes, however, leave the field open to an elderly couple who go hiking in Cassis, for a route of six kilometers.
"What bothers me is this silence"
On the port, the majority of the Cassidains all the same planned the blow and hurry with their certificate in hand, giving rise to surreal scenes, where passers-by wave their papers in front of the men in blue ... "You saw, I told you said I was going to buy cigarettes, and they are there! », Launched the young Thibault on his scooter, checked a few minutes earlier by the patrol. "We're just going to the pharmacy and we're going home, I promise! Blows a woman a few minutes later.
"It is very good that the gendarmes are on the streets," says Geneviève. And the certificates don't bother me. What bothers me is this silence at Cassis. It's scary ... "" We live in a busy street and we don't hear a noise, on the contrary, rejoices her husband Jean-Fernand. I would sign for it to be like this all the time! "
The streets of Cassis are indeed deserted. In this usually crowded city center, where people flock to the terraces or to eat ice cream, you don't hear flies, but seagulls fly, in heavy silence. The gendarmes, looking for the slightest sign of life, are the rare ones to roam the city center in a heavy atmosphere. "In thirty years, I have never seen Cassis like that, and I have never had to do this kind of thing," blows Major Raffin. It's strange… "
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