For this first Saturday of the sales, the Paris police headquarters sent men to check the gauges in the stores.

Europe 1 was able to follow one of these patrols in the Forum des Halles shopping center, in the 1st arrondissement of the capital.

REPORTAGE

"Hello, put a little distance between you, thank you!".

With his team, Brigadier Jeff patrols the aisles of the Forum des Halles shopping center in Paris.

On this first Saturday of the sales, while traders hope to see a large number of French people responding despite the curfew at 6 p.m., the police headquarters of the capital decided to send men to check compliance with the gauge according to the surface of each store.    

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Agents at the entrance of stores to count

Here everything seems in order for this big sign, confirms at the microphone of Europe 1 one of the reception agents who counts the entries in front of an establishment.

"We have a queue of 17 people that we already count in the gauge. Each agent has a counter and we communicate with each other regularly throughout the day."

But things seem a lot less organized for the attached store, which sells ready-to-wear.

"There are people," Jeff slips.

"This store has a capacity of 34 people and at first glance they are above it. We thought about it, but it's complicated: they don't have a security guard. They are therefore doing the best they can."

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"A real effort on the part of traders"

To limit the health risk as much as possible, the maximum level of the shopping center has been almost halved, from 20,000 to 11,000 people.

All stores have strict guidelines to follow.

A constraint, of course, but "there is a real effort on the part of traders," notes Commissioner Hélène Thorel.

"Overall, everything is in place for it to work. So, we stay in the pedagogical because there is this effort."

But stores also know the penalties: in the event of repeated infringements they risk administrative closure.