The mayor of Nice Christian Estrosi - SYSPEO / SIPA

A decision against the coronavirus. The city of Nice has adopted a decree imposing the wearing of masks in public space throughout the territory of the municipality from Monday, the first day of deconfinement, said Friday the mayor (LR) of the city Christian Estrosi.

"I signed yesterday on May 7 a decree imposing the wearing of masks on all public roads, for all persons circulating on the territory of the commune of Nice, from May 11, and this decree is valid until June 2, "said the elected official during a videoconference.

Contravention of 35 euros in case of violation

This obligation is imposed from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., to all persons aged 11 and over. Violations of these provisions will be punished with a fine of 35 euros. The decree was sent to the prefecture for the legality check.

An identical decree taken by Philippe Laurent, the mayor UDI of Sceaux (Hauts-de-Seine), had been relocated by the Council of State on April 17. The highest administrative court had estimated that the mayors could not "take other measures intended to fight against the health catastrophe" than those decided by the State, except "imperative reasons related to local circumstances".

The mayor of Val d'Isère had taken a similar decree on April 8, before modifying it on April 14, following the intervention of the Prefecture of Savoie. From "compulsory", wearing a mask in public space had become "strongly recommended".

An "illegal" municipal decree?

On April 30, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Secretary of State to the Minister of Economy and Finance, had repeated that an order of the type of Nice or Sceaux would be considered "illegal in the national context" .

The same day the Ministry of the Interior recalled that if after May 11 "the wearing of the mask will be recommended in public space (and) mandatory in public transport, (...) it is not planned to make it mandatory throughout public space. " "It would go beyond the recommendations," added Minister of Health Olivier Véran.

Masks distributed to residents of the town

Other mayors of big cities, like Gérard Collomb (LREM) in Lyon or Roland Ries (PS), had declared themselves in favor of the obligation to wear a mask in public space, without going so far as to issue an order municipal. The various-left mayor of Montpellier, Philippe Saurel, also pleaded for “the wearing of the generalized mask permanently”, even at “home”, without however “considering imposing it” in his city.

In Nice, wearing a mask will also be compulsory in the city's public transport, following a national decision taken by the government, as well as in "all public places and places likely to welcome the public", including public services , specifies the decree.

Since May 4, two other municipalities of the Côte d'Azur have already largely imposed the wearing of masks in their public spaces: Mandelieu-La Napoule, but only in the urban areas of the municipality, and Cannes, in "public spaces with high potential attendance or those with intense human interactions ”.

Christian Estrosi recalled Friday that the city of Nice will have, by Saturday, distributed 615,000 washable cloth masks to its inhabitants, "either two per person from the age of 3 years", saying that "Nice was the the only city in France where two masks were given free of charge to all citizens ”.

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  • Covid 19
  • epidemic
  • Christian Estrosi
  • Coronavirus
  • Nice