- The Fronton market, in Haute-Garonne, took place this Thursday morning, as every week.
- Only food traders were authorized, on a surface and with a very reduced crowding compared to usual.
- The mayor of this commune of about 6,000 inhabitants intends to continue to make local producers work, as long as the state gives him the right to do so.
In Occitania and beyond, Fronton and its surroundings are renowned for their vineyards. In the north of Haute-Garonne, this small town of just over 6,000 inhabitants, 30 km from Toulouse, is also known for its Thursday morning market, which usually brings together a hundred outdoor traders, and around thirty under the hall. Once a week, the crowd, mixing old people and strollers, advances in slow motion between the stands of clothes or fruit and vegetables. We slalom peacefully between the clusters of people talking.
None of this this Thursday, two days after confinement decided throughout France to fight against the coronavirus. Food markets remain authorized. But in Fronton, its open-air part no longer embraces the town center as usual, with its town hall and its beautiful 16th century church in red bricks.
The usually crowded parking lots are sparse, silence has fallen. Only about fifteen stalls are installed along the entire length of the Pierre-Campech esplanade, in front of the war memorial.
"We called the traders who offer non-food to tell them that they could not come," explains Mayor Hugo Cavagnac. Our concern is to maintain the food part. "
Amazon vs local producers
“A full-blown market poses perhaps less risk of promiscuity than a closed shop, develops the first magistrate of 49 years, re-elected Sunday in the first round of municipal elections. There are also people, elderly or not, who have their habits and want to keep them. Finally, it would bother me that the health crisis benefits Amazon and not local producers. "
Hugo Cavagnac does his shopping with gloves, between a butcher and a Reunion caterer. It is 11 a.m., and only a few customers roam around, usually alone, sometimes masked. With one or two exceptions, the children stayed at home.
"We are afraid that it will last a long time," says a middle-aged lady to the cheese maker. At a time when the caregivers were upwind against the Covid-19, another client railed against the treatment of her niece, victim of dental abscesses. "We gave her morphine, antibiotics, but we didn't really treat her ..."
OUR CORONAVIRUS FILE
Crossing the street, here is the hall under which this Thursday barely ten traders took their places. A very old regular, who offers all green beans and other products from her garden on Thursdays to the right of the entrance, for example, has passed her turn. A small queue forms from time to time in front of the building, with two or three good meters between each person, because two municipal police officers filter the access.
"There were people earlier in the morning, especially for fruits and vegetables," said David Fromentin, chief of the municipal police. We set up a circuit in one direction, with the exit at the other end of the building. It is not possible to turn around. But people are respectful, there is no recalcitrant. "Just a few dazed (e) s, like this sixty-something who presents an attestation of displacement unfilled, and that she claims to have already used a little earlier to" get the dog out ".
In the hall, Magali Salesses confirms that she saw "a few people" and that "the customers are careful and respectful". This Bessières farmer (20 km east of Fronton) sells her produce, including eggs, and explains that she has changed the way she works. “We make deliveries and drop them off in front of our customers' homes. We have two or three somewhat frail people who pay us by leaving the money in the mailbox. "
"The markets will be suppressed"
Back on the Pierre-Campech esplanade where Jacques Carme does not share the same (relative) enthusiasm. For the past fifteen years, he has come almost every Thursday to Fronton to sell his aligot. "This is my last market here," explains this resident of Tauriac, in the neighboring Tarn. Saturday, I will go to that of Rabastens [Tarn] then I will stay at home until everything starts again. I thought people would take advantage of the market to get out, but that is not the case. "
For him, no doubt: “the markets will be eliminated. This has already been the case in Lavaur [Tarn]. We're all going to be completely confined. And it is probably wiser in terms of health. Further north, in Aveyron, Rodez also decided to eliminate its open-air market.
"We are legalists, if we are told that we have to stop, we will stop," said Mayor Hugo Cavagnac. But once again, as long as we can make local producers work, while respecting the safety instructions… Usually, with the market, we are in conviviality and necessity. There, we put friendliness aside. There remains the need. "
Paris
Coronavirus in Paris: The city maintains its markets and identifies its “fragile” inhabitants
Planet
Coronavirus: Thousands of peonies soon tossed after the Hyères flower market closes
- Trade
- Containment
- Covid 19
- Toulouse
- Society
- Coronavirus