- Like the Belgians or the Spaniards before them, Parisians must wear the mask since Monday morning in the busiest districts of the capital.
- On the banks of the Seine, the measure is “globally respected” according to agents on the spot, but it divides and makes people talk.
- The measure concerns more than one hundred streets located in almost all of the city's districts. These are mainly the quays, very touristy areas like the Butte Montmartre, shopping or festive streets.
Stopped in his tracks. This Monday morning under a blazing sun, Nicolas, 35, jogging on the banks of the Seine, is suddenly caught by the patrol. Reason: He is not wearing a mask. The police around him unfold the situation. Since 8 hours, the wearing of the mask is obligatory in a hundred streets and areas of the public space of the capital, mainly the most frequented, including all the quays of the Seine. And joggers are no exception to the rule, although the mask remains "incompatible with physical activity", according to the Ministry of Sports. On the first day of the measurement, Nicolas will leave without a ticket but frozen in incomprehension.
"We have already passed the confinement in our apartments of 20 m² overpriced and now we have to put on a mask when we run? We go through everything here. If I start to wear a mask that limits the intake of oxygen and with the heat, I risk discomfort, ”he explains. "The police suggest that I go for a run on the road in the middle of the pollution ... So, if it is compulsory to run on the quays, I will wear it but if I feel unwell, the agents will be responsible", s' He annoys, while a police truck is parked at the entrance to Paris Plages, under the windows of the Town Hall from which the measurement started after Lille, Tours, Biarritz, Toulouse or even Nice.
# COVID19 😷 | Wearing a mask will be compulsory in #Paris in areas with high traffic from people from Monday August 10 at 8 a.m. https://t.co/HOfho8JcQn
For more details see our press release 👇 pic.twitter.com / cPigy6eWge
Faced with a rebound of the virus raising fears of a second wave of the epidemic, the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo indeed asked last week to the police chief, Didier Lallement, competent in the matter, to make the wearing of a mask compulsory. in several frequented exterior sectors of the capital including the quays of the Seine. This is now done - and also in force in Seine-Saint-Denis, Hauts-de-Seine, Val-de-Marne and Val-d'Oise - for a renewable period of one month. The measure is "globally respected", according to a city agent on patrol in Paris Plages since the morning.
"For the moment, people respect well"
Protected from the sun by the shade of the Pont Neuf, around ten people take a tai-chi-chuan course. All and all are masked. Like cyclists, scooters on a goguette and walkers crossed along the Seine. If it is not always worn to perfection, the mask is never far away and the authorities are watching. Sylvie, 49, and Louis, 61, just back from Portugal, discovered when they arrived in Paris Plages that wearing a mask was compulsory on the banks of the Seine.
Installed on the terrace for a coffee, they have just had a little reminder to order from the event organizers. Sylvie's mask is next to the ashtray, Louis's, shirtless, around his arm. “We put it on regularly, we always walk around with it, however, but now we took it off, because it's deserted! But hey, we're going to put it on, that's how it is, ”says Sylvie. Some find, however, that the signage leaves something to be desired.
"We knew it was mandatory but we saw a poster printed in A4, so we put on the mask but it is tiny," insists Hugo, 24 years old. On larger panels, it is still written "wearing a mask recommended" but "that will change in the coming hours. From recommended we will go to compulsory, ”insists a beach attendant. "For the moment, people respect well", one concludes. Others, however, wear the famous piece of cloth reluctantly.
"It's absurd, there are three peeled and one shorn"
“I'm forced and it annoys me. It's completely silly and absurd at this time of day. But hey you have to comply. We could have used more common sense. It might even have been easier to impose the mask at any time and in all places of the capital, ”says Alain, 64, a Parisian who walks on the quays after a visit to the Louvre. For Line, this measure is "absurd and silly".
“There are three peeled and one shorn. Putting a mask here is inconsistent. I blame no one but it would have taken more common sense. I think that the mask must come under free will because we are constantly made guilty and we are treated as selfish if we do not have it ", exclaims Line, 77 years old and" revolted "against this" muzzle ". “Besides, if there is a revolution, I take to the streets,” she warns. "Leave us alone. And especially to us, the old folks! », She blurted out.
"It is not by playing fools that we will stop the epidemic"
With the heatwave and a south-facing Parisian apartment, Martine, 72, stalks her shadow like a lost soul. The one who is "not a follower of Paris Plages" has however set her sights on a deckchair on the quays to enjoy "the air and the shade" in a swimsuit. And it's not the mask that's going to spoil his moment.
“It didn't stop me from coming, I have been wearing the mask since the start of the epidemic, I make it myself. I find it good. Too many people take it lightly and respect nothing. Here in July, it looked like nothing had happened. The people were on top of each other, without masks. But the epidemic is returning at a galloping pace, something must be done, otherwise we will find ourselves confined again in the fall. I don't want that. It is not by playing fools that we will stop the epidemic, ”explains this resident of the 11th arrondissement, in the midst of crosswords. "In the busy pedestrian streets, I understand, on the platforms less", indicates for his part, Thibaut 25 years, not far. But it is still time for “pedagogy”.
As elsewhere and as in closed places, not wearing a mask is punishable by a fine of 135 euros. But the town hall of Paris first wants to be in an "educational work". “We want to raise awareness and empower people. We have also done some lacework with the prefecture, so that it is an adequate job and that people subscribe to it. We are not going to be behind every person who does not have a mask outside ”, assured at the end of last week to 20 Minutes Anne Souyris, deputy mayor of Paris in charge of public health. What about verbalization? “The sanction will come if ever there is voluntary abuse or if the fold does not take, she assured. But the goal is that everyone thinks about doing it and adapts their behavior to the reality of things ”.
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- Deconfinement
- Covid 19
- Confinement
- Coronavirus
- Anne Hidalgo
- Paris