A queue in front of a tobacco shop, at the Perthus (Archives) -
Adria Salido Zarco / SIPA
Thousands of French people rushed, Thursday, to Perthus (Pyrénées-Orientales), at the Spanish border, "storming" the tobacco where cigarettes are sold much cheaper, the day after the announcements of Emmanuel Macron on new travel restrictions to fight Covid-19.
"From the early hours of the day and as after the first confinement, traffic jams of several kilometers formed on the departmental road", connecting Perpignan to Perthus, said the gendarmerie of the Pyrénées-Orientales.
"Dams"
The tobaccos of Perthus, a border town of which part is Spanish, about thirty kilometers from Perpignan, "were stormed" by French customers in a hurry to stock up on cigarettes before Saturday, said the gendarmerie.
"We solved the problem by setting up roadblocks and forcing people to turn around to avoid too much crowd in the stores," said the gendarmerie.
Thus, throughout the day, the police tried to regulate the flow of motorists, by temporarily blocking traffic at roadblocks, until a sufficient number of cars left in the opposite direction.
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