Why can we ride the Ferris wheel in Amiens and not in Lille?

Assembly of the Ferris wheel in Lille.

-

• The big wheel of Lille is installed but will not be able to welcome the public.

• The prefecture evokes the risk of provoking gatherings of more than six people.

• However, in other cities such as Amiens or Toulouse, rides will be installed and open to the public.

After many adventures, it was finally decided that the traditional Ferris wheel would be installed on the Grand-place in Lille for the end of year celebrations.

On the other hand, what makes a lot of talk is the decision to confine the imposing merry-go-round to an ornamental role, a ban having been notified to the operator to welcome the public.

The health reasons related to the coronavirus mentioned by the Northern Prefecture nevertheless raise questions, since other well-filled large wheels will turn elsewhere in the country.

A few days ago, the mayor of Lille, Martine Aubry, had indeed declared that she wanted to install on the Place du Général-de-Gaulle the ferris wheel which has throne there every winter for thirty years.

And this merry-go-round, the elected representative wanted it open to the public, the health protocol presented to the prefecture being "super-secure".

It was for this second part that the prefect said no.

"In agreement with the town hall, we took the decision to close it to the public because of the risk that this generates regroupings", explains the prefecture of the North to

.

The city of Lille, for its part, ensures "not to understand the position of the prefect".

Anyway, the wheel is mounted and Lille will always be able to admire it from below if they cannot get on it.

Rides in Amiens, Toulouse or Bordeaux

The problem, the prefecture of the North has recognized, is that the situation is not the same everywhere.

In Amiens, for example, rides, including a Ferris wheel, will be set up and accessible to the public from this weekend.

The Somme prefecture confirmed to

had given the city the green light.

Same thing in Toulouse, where several rides open to the public are installed in the city center.

A Ferris wheel will also be mounted in Bordeaux from December 18.

In fact, nothing is set in stone, the government leaving the decision to the discretion of the prefects.

"At the national level, the elements that we have say that we can open an isolated merry-go-round as long as it does not generate groups of more than six people on the public highway," assures the prefecture.

The decree of October 29, amended on November 28, indeed allows prefects to "restrict or regulate, by regulatory or individual measures, activities that are not prohibited".

Euralille today.

Indeed, the danger is really the restaurants where everyone is seated at their table.

pic.twitter.com/cgbfTuaGfO

- Adeline (@AdeNrmn) November 29, 2020

A notion that had escaped the owner of the big wheel of Lille: “For me, it was forbidden everywhere.

There are clearly two weights, two measures, ”deplores Jan Van Derhoning.

He does not understand why a wheel that turns with people in it would generate more crowds than a wheel that turns empty.

"If it's just a question of the queue, we had provided that also in the health protocol," he says.

He imagined a "serpentine" on the Grand-place respecting physical distances, far, very far from the crowd observed on Saturday in front of the Primark store in Lille.

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• Covid 19

• Coronavirus

• Fun fair

• Confinement

• Lille