• The Strasbourg Christmas market will open its doors on 25 November at 2 p.m.: two million visitors are expected during the entire event, which will run until 24 December.

  • The system put in place for this new edition and an optimized version of that of 2021.

  • Grid of the city, airy layout of the chalets to facilitate the passage of relief and law enforcement, the security system can count on 1,000 people.

Why change a winning team?

This is implicitly explained by the prefect of Bas-Rhin Josiane Chevalier, the mayor of Strasbourg Jeanne Barseghian and the representatives of the police and Civil Security.

This Wednesday, during a press conference, the security device that will be deployed for the 432nd edition of the Christmas market in the Alsatian capital was detailed.

And it's almost a copy-paste of the 2021 edition, apart from a few variations due to the disappearance of health constraints.

These missing constraints save, in passing, the costs of additional controls and guarding which had "exploded the budget", according to Jeanne Barseghian.

The “normality” of this year will allow him, for this single budget line of the city, to save nearly 600,000 euros.



It is therefore on an already known musical tune that the score of the security system will be articulated this year.

The observation is that the very airy layout of the chalets, launched in 2021, has been widely acclaimed, both by residents and visitors, but also by firefighters, emergency services and law enforcement.

It is therefore renewed.

Small variation however, the Alt Winmark and Langstross-Grand Rue tram stops will be closed this year during opening hours from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The Homme de fer station, the main gateway to the Big Island, remains, on the other hand, open, as in 2021, but random checks will be put in place there.

"A continuum of security"

The key word of this new edition is to promote "a continuum of security" as hammered home by the speakers, between municipal and national police, rescuers and State services, therefore the prefecture, while taking care to hinder the the least possible the residents and to satisfy the visitors.

Also, there will be no filter checkpoint to enter the Big Island, but random checks of people and bags at the entry point, just like in the island ellipse.

However, they will be automatic for large luggage and cargo bikes.

Cars, on the other hand, will still be checked during market opening hours and access will be possible for residents with a private garage or reserved parking during the market, on presentation of a sticker, as in previous years.

For these motorists, four entry points: the Corbeau, Abattoir, Paris and Foundry bridges.

This grid of the city had made it possible, last year, to control more than 13,000 people and 800 vehicles.

A police rapid intervention unit, positioned on site in the event of a serious emergency, a unit of deminers, a specific device to fight against pickpocketing, support from video surveillance teams: in total, 1,000 people, all services combined, will be mobilized, every day, according to the prefect.

Six units of mobile guards (about 350 men) will come to reinforce soldiers from the Sentinel force, dog handlers, sixty officers from the municipal police, the national police and private security agents.

Everything therefore seems ready to welcome the two million visitors expected, from November 25 at 2 p.m.

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