A restaurant in Paris just after the start of the curfew, October 17, 2020. -

Lewis Joly / AP / SIPA

“It's 9 pm.

Thank you for going home ”.

The curfew put in place by the government to stem the second wave of the coronavirus epidemic began on Saturday evening.

Nearly 20 million inhabitants have accepted this new obligation.

This night confinement, until 6 a.m., concerns the inhabitants of Ile-de-France and the metropolises of Lyon, Lille, Toulouse, Montpellier, Saint-Etienne, Aix Marseille, Rouen and Grenoble.

For the moment, the measure seems respected.

“It is 9 pm and there is no one left.

The situation is almost clean, ”noted Commissioner Patrick Caron, of the DOPC (The Directorate of Public Order and Traffic), on patrol on the outskirts of the Latin Quarter, in Paris.

“With the experience of confinement, I am relatively optimistic.

As we have seen, the Parisian is respectful ”.

A well respected measure

The feeling is the same in Lille.

"The curfew is rather well respected and people who must be outside after 9 pm have the reflex of the certificate", welcomed Saturday evening the prefect of the North Michel Lalande, speaking near the Lille- station. Flanders, almost deserted.

The Departmental Director of Public Security, Jean-François Papineau, also spoke of "very well observed rules and very marginal breaches".

Are exempt from curfew, people returning from work or a place of study or going there, claiming a health requirement, must visit a loved one in a situation of dependency, babysit, answer to a court summons or to walk their pet.

On the way or at the exit of stations and airports, plane and train tickets will prevail.

As during confinement in spring, people going out during curfew must bring travel certificates (to print or download on the phone).

Any offender is liable to a fine of 135 euros then, in the event of a double recidivism (three frauds in total), six months in prison and a fine of 3,750 euros.

At least four weeks

Some 12,000 police and gendarmes, in addition to municipal police teams, must be deployed to enforce the new rules.

The police were, however, invited to show “pedagogy” and “discernment”, by evaluating “the good or bad faith” of the people checked, according to a police source.

Scheduled for at least four weeks, the curfew could be extended if the epidemic does not show signs of abating.

President Macron has already mentioned the date of December 1.

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