The Palais Bourbon, seat of the National Assembly, July 14, 2020 in Paris -

NICOLAS MESSYASZ / SIPA

  • The exemplary nature of deputies is often the subject of debate on Facebook.

  • In recent days, a publication reproduced by several users accuses elected officials of not wearing a mask in the refreshment bar of the National Assembly.

    The establishment would not be subject to any restrictive measures elsewhere.

  • This post is misleading and contains false information.

The refreshment bar and the restaurant of the National Assembly are not experiencing "any closure" to fight against the spread of the coronavirus.

The deputies evolve there "standing without masks".

This is what claims to denounce, photo in support, a publication shared nearly 5,000 times on Facebook in recent days.

Problem: Multiple Items Most items are wrong.

This post has been shared nearly 5,000 times on Facebook - Screenshot

FAKE OFF

Let's start with the photo.

As noted by several Internet users in the comments, this photo, one of the few to have been taken in the refreshment bar of the National Assembly, was taken more than ten years ago.

He therefore does not show the refreshment bar in the midst of the coronavirus epidemic.

Standing in the center of the image, Bernard Accoyer, former President of the National Assembly, has not been a member since 2012.

The photo was taken in 2010 by French photographer Baptise Giroudon, author of several political reports.

It was republished to accompany an article published in July 2019 in

Paris Match

, entitled “The new kitchen of power”, and is accompanied by this caption: “The refreshment bar of the National Assembly, a place prohibited to any unelected person.

Here, in 2010. "

Contacted by the newspaper

Le Monde

, the photojournalist said he took this photo as part of a report "behind the scenes of the Assembly".

“We spent a big week, night and day, in the National Assembly.

We are the only ones to have entered this refreshment bar and to have been able to take pictures there ”, explains Baptiste Giroudon daily.

The Assembly refreshment bar closes at 10 p.m.

Let's now take a look at the claims of this post that went viral in the last few days.

"The refreshment stall and the restaurant of the National Assembly are not being closed"?

This is incorrect.

As revealed by

Liberation

, the Parliamentarians' Buvette has closed at 10 p.m. since Monday.

"This is what we decided to align with the Parisian situation," explains LREM deputy Florian Bachelier at

20 Minutes

.

Indeed, since Monday, all the bars in Paris and in the departments of the inner suburbs must lower the curtain at 10 p.m.

Additional restrictions could, however, arise early next week.

“The refreshment bar could have remained open, because it is a place of restoration for the deputies, who often sit until late in the evening in the hemicycle.

But we took this decision for reasons of exemplarity ”, specifies the one who is one of the three quaestors of the National Assembly, deputies responsible for questions of internal administration of the Palais-Bourbon - budget of the Assembly, staff , premises, equipment… The closure at 10 pm applies to other refreshments, including that of journalists, specifies Florian Bachelier.

A “food truck” at the Palais-Bourbon

Regarding the restaurants of the National Assembly, as is still the case at present in Paris and the departments of the inner suburbs, these remain open with respect for health measures, explains the deputy.

“Social distancing measures also lead to a reduction in their capacity.

A food truck was therefore installed on the site of the National Assembly, between the Montesquieu court and the quaestor ”, underlines the LREM deputy.

Our Fake Off section

These provisions are part of a set of measures taken by Quaestors Florian Bachelier, Laurianne Rossi (LREM) and Eric Ciotti (LR) to fight against the spread of the coronavirus at the Palais-Bourbon in this return, with in particular the increased use of teleworking for parliamentary staff and officials of the National Assembly or even the use of videoconferencing for committee meetings.

Society

Coronavirus: Paris and its inner suburbs could go on maximum alert from Monday

Society

Coronavirus: The mayors of Paris, Lyon, Lille, Grenoble and Toulouse received by Castex on Thursday

  • Fake off

  • Deputy

  • Society

  • National Assembly

  • Coronavirus