The socialist mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, announced Thursday morning the closure from 10 p.m. of "certain drinking establishments", grocery stores and take-out restaurants, where "crowds" were observed in the streets of the capital.

At 10 p.m., these establishments "will be closed because in a number of cases there have been overflows," the mayor of Paris announced on BFMTV.

These "new restrictions on Paris and the inner suburbs were decided yesterday [Wednesday]" with the prefect of police Didier Lallement, said Anne Hidalgo, and a decree must be published in the coming hours.

Faced with the worrying health situation, to avoid gatherings and overflows, I gave a favorable opinion to the request of the Prefecture of Police to close certain places of take-out and drinking establishments from 10 p.m.

#BourdinDirect pic.twitter.com/9zb82Y2dHA

- Anne Hidalgo (@Anne_Hidalgo) November 5, 2020

Not a curfew 

Is this a curfew?

"I do not know if it is a curfew because it does not concern all the activities of the city", added the city councilor.

Tuesday, a lively controversy agitated the political class after the announcement by the government spokesperson, Gabriel Attal, of the establishment of a curfew in Paris and in Île-de-France, which was denied by Matignon.

"In reality, what the police prefect wants is not a curfew, it is to avoid crowds," said the president of the Île-de-France region, Valérie Pécresse (Libres!), Who gave "all (its) agreement to regulate the situations which pose health problems".

Anne Hidalgo also considered "the situation very worrying" in Paris and in the inner suburbs, where "around 1,000 people are in intensive care today, after 4,000 at the peak of the epidemic in the spring". 

Contrary to the measures taken during the first wave, the markets will remain open, said the mayor of Paris. 

In schools

On the school side, she proposed to the Minister of National Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, and to the rectorate, several places in Paris such as "libraries, theaters, gymnasiums (...) which can be used to give more space for high school students ", and thus avoid possible closures.

Almost a week after the implementation of the re-containment, the government is preparing to take stock on Thursday, after a series of hiccups around the implementation of this measure and while players fear a tightening of restrictions in the face of a still significant Covid-19 epidemic.

In France, nearly 400 deaths (394) in hospital were recorded on Wednesday, pushing the number of deaths since the start of the epidemic to 38,674.

With AFP

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