Paris during the curfew, December 15, 2020. -

Gabrielle CEZARD / SIPA

“Paris is not an island”, “the Parisians cannot be hostages of the incompetence and cynicism of Madame Hidalgo”, “absent mayor”, etc.

After the surprise announcement, Thursday evening, of the first deputy, Emmanuel Grégoire, to confine Paris for three weeks in order "to have the prospect of reopening" at its end, including bars, restaurants and cultural places, some elected Parisians and Ile-de-France residents quickly stepped up to the plate.

“The mayor of Paris is calling for strict confinement of Paris tonight for three weeks.

This proposition is aberrant!

The experience of the crisis has shown that a containment of this type was not able to defeat the epidemic ”, bombed the right-wing elected officials in the Council of Paris in a press release.

And to clarify: “At the same time, poverty, the distress of Parisians, cascading bankruptcies, school and university dropout are at an unprecedented level.

Moreover, claiming to confine Paris without taking into account its neighbors is absolute nonsense: the virus does not stop at the gates of the ring road!

".

Same story on the side of the president of the region (ex-LR, Libres!) Valérie Pécresse, qualifying "illusions" of possible health decisions taken "at the departmental level" in Ile-de-France.

Less than 24 hours later, the town hall of Paris, back-pedal, slightly.

"Simply a hypothesis"

During a press conference this Friday, Emmanuel Grégoire, returned to the situation.

"It was never a proposal, I made three media interventions last night, it was never a proposal, it is a hypothesis", "simply a hypothesis that we want to put on the table", a he specified.

“If things stabilize, adjustment measures will have to be put in place.

In the event that it deteriorates, we are then against half-measures which would only delay harder confinement, "continued Emmanuel Grégoire, advocating" short-term efforts ".

“Half-measures are testing the morale of our fellow citizens,” he added.

And faced with many criticisms, he broadened his hypothesis to the “dense area” of Ile-de-France.

Is this enough to calm the anger of the elect?

Right-wing elected officials republished a press release signed by the LR district mayors.

“We demand within 24 hours, a meeting of the elected officials of Paris with the health and administrative authorities as the partner communities, in order to consider together the measures that the situation imposes.

"

“While in Paris, Anne Hidalgo demands strict confinement of Paris.

Always disconnected from what Parisians experience.

We are waiting for the next announcement during its next visit to Paris.

She is an absent mayor, in Paris as during the Paris councils!

“, Sharply tackled the mayor of the 7th arrondissement, Rachida Dati (LR).

"Coup de comm 'for his presidential campaign"

On the left too, we are very critical.

“Obviously, Madame Hidalgo made the decision to make this announcement without any consultation with either the mayors of the district or the neighboring departments.

It is really a coup de comm 'to make people talk about her for her presidential campaign.

[…] Paris only works and lives thanks to those, often first on duty, who live in the neighboring departments and come to work in the capital every day.

To think of a confinement of Paris without consultation with these departments is absurd ”, explained Danielle Simonnet, advisor of Paris (LFI) on BFM Paris.

Our dossier on containment

The hypothetical request of the town hall should be transmitted to the prefect and the regional health agency this weekend before forwarding it to the government.

And it will be "studied" at the level of the region, despite reservations about its duration and the closure of schools, reacted this Friday on France Inter, government spokesman Gabriel Attal.

Traveling to Nantes, Prime Minister Jean Castex affirmed that to foresee an exit from the health crisis after three weeks of confinement amounted to telling "nonsense".

“You know very well that with variants, this is not possible,” added the head of government.

Paris

Paris: The town hall explains after the much criticized announcement of a possible three-week confinement

Society

Coronavirus: The town hall will propose confinement of Paris for three weeks

  • Coronavirus

  • Anne Hidalgo

  • Covid 19

  • Confinement

  • Paris