Strasbourg Christmas market maintained? "You are never sure of anything"

If it does take place, the Strasbourg Christmas market should accommodate the usual 300 chalets.

"Reservations were made pre-covid-19 and since then, we have not had a cancellation", explains the deputy mayor in charge of urban activities in the Alsatian capital, Guillaume Libsig.

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• Will the Strasbourg Christmas market take place?

  The question is still not resolved despite several announcements, in particular from the mayor of the Alsatian capital, Jeanne Barseghian.

• "Today, several scenarios are planned for it to take place, but if there is partial or total re-containment, we are not guaranteed to maintain it", explains the deputy mayor in charge of urban activities in the city. capital, Guillaume Libsig.

• The Bas-Rhin prefecture will have the last word on this matter.

  The safety and health aspects will be particularly scrutinized, especially as the town hall is planning new features for this 2020 edition.

No question of making the suspense last longer.

No, at the moment, nothing says that the Strasbourg Christmas market will celebrate its 451st edition this winter.

The confession comes from the deputy mayor in charge of urban events in the Alsatian capital, Guillaume Libsig: “We are never sure of anything.

"

"Today, several scenarios are planned for it to take place, but if there is partial or total reconfinement, we are not guaranteed to maintain it", he continues, insisting, however, on the work currently being carried out. by its teams so that the event is maintained.

Today is the trend that emerges.

The last word to the prefect

The new mayor of the city, Jeanne Barseghian (EELV), confirmed this last week on the sidelines of the European Fair.

“The goal is for the Christmas market to be held in Strasbourg this year.

I am fully mobilized with the prefecture and the Regional Health Agency so that this can take place under very good conditions, ”she said, announcing the date of the start of hostilities: November 28.

A speech that goes in the same as that of the prefect of Bas-Rhin.

"This is a major event for Strasbourg so we will do everything to maintain it with a health protocol and an optimal safety protocol", declared Josiane Chevalier the same day.

The representative of the State will have the last word.

When?

"According to its latest communications, it is at the end of October at the latest," resumes Guillaume Libsig, who is therefore working on solutions capable of satisfying all parties.

The Quai des Bateliers invested?

"We are working on the notion of spacing and fluidity of movement," continues the assistant.

We need to ventilate this market as much as possible, but since we have the same number of chalets (around 300), this will force us to set up in new sectors.

The Quai des Bateliers should thus be invested, like a few squares including that of Austerlitz.

Another potential novelty mentioned, the removal of pedestrian checkpoints, which marked the entrances to the Big Island.

"We have come to an agreement with the prefecture on their lifting but the entry of vehicles will still be filtered and their parking prohibited [on the road in the hypercentre]", announces Guillaume Libsig.

Two years after the attack which claimed the lives of five people and left eleven injured, will these new provisions be deemed sufficiently safe by the State services?

The prefecture refused to answer this question.

“Everything is still under discussion,” she simply told

.

"Potential super cluster on a European scale"

"All the staff who were busy at the checkpoints could be distributed elsewhere," anticipates Guillaume Libsig, before justifying the town hall's approach: "The 2019 edition marked a break with the Strasbourg residents.

They can no longer take it and feel that they are no longer in their own city with all the measures that had been taken.

That's why it has to change.

We are building a project so that everything fits into the security and health requirements.

"

While waiting for a final decision to be known, other voices are rising to plead the cancellation of the event in the midst of the Covid-19 epidemic.

Like that of Philippe Breton, a recognized scholar in the Alsatian capital and national administrator of the French Red Cross.

"It is absolutely incomprehensible that we even ask ourselves the question of maintaining the Strasbourg Christmas market, a potential super cluster on a European scale," he wrote in a tweet.

We expect a position, difficult but responsible, from the new elected municipal officials and the prefecture.

"

Miscellaneous

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• Coronavirus

• Strasbourg

• Christmas market