On the banks of the Seine, this Sunday.

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Caroline Politi / 20 Minutes

One eye to the right, one eye to the left… and Alix, 21, takes off her mask.

"Ah, I'm finally breathing," smiles the biology student.

This Sunday, like the one before, moreover, she found her two best friends on the banks of the Seine.

All three intend to take advantage of these few hours in the sun before returning to their respective roommates and maid's room.

"It feels great but the atmosphere is still weird, there are so many police officers scrutinizing us, it's heavy, we are not delinquents," insists the young woman.

On horseback, rollerblading, cycling or on foot, not five minutes goes by without meeting a group of police officers or gendarmes making a round.

To access the quays, filter dams have been put in place: from around 3:30 p.m., you have to wait for someone to come out before entering.

This does not prevent Parisians from queuing.

"It's still delusional," says a father who came to ride a bike with his two daughters.

Throughout the weekend, 4,400 police and gendarmes were mobilized in Paris and in the inner suburbs to limit gatherings and enforce barrier gestures, including around a hundred on the banks of the banks.

"Our role is to do prevention but also repression"

If the wearing of a mask is generally rather well respected by walkers, it is less so by the small groups, often young, installed on the sunny sidewalks.

Likewise, it is impossible to leave two meters apart.

“Our role is to prevent but also to repression,” explains Commissioner Jean-Sébastien Rosadoni, deputy head of the regional traffic division.

Rules are in force, we call on everyone's responsibility.

On Saturday, the prefecture evacuated the premises in the course of the afternoon, believing that social distancing was not respected.

So this Sunday, it's a bit of a cat and mouse game that takes place.

“I admit that I spend my time on the lookout for my beer if they come back,” smiles George, a Scottish Erasmus student who quickly picked up on the saying “not seen, not taken”.

Since this weekend, alcohol consumption is effectively prohibited in certain areas of the capital between 11 am and 6 pm.

Valentin and Alexandre, 22 and 23 years old, have just been called to order by a mounted gendarme even before having had time to uncap their beers.

“I admit that I did not know it was forbidden, explains the latter.

He just asked us to go up the stairs to drink it.

"Because if alcohol consumption is prohibited on the quays (and punishable by a fine of 135 euros), it is not on the sidewalk just above ...

For Carla and Gauthier, both 28 years old, this breath of fresh air has a bitter taste.

"270 bullets in the afternoon, it's expensive ..." Mobile gendarmes have just fined them because they were not wearing their masks.

Both recognize it, the police officers had repeatedly made a sign to hand it over.

“What I find it hard to understand is that next to us people have the right to take it off to picnic, drink or smoke a cigarette, but we, because we are only talking, we are takes a fine ”, laments the young woman.

Parisian specificities

To avoid being fined without wearing their masks, some strollers have thought about "strategies".

“I have an extinguished cigarette in my hand,” explains Lucie, 29 years old.

As soon as they approach, I pretend to turn it on.

"A somewhat" shameful "plan, she admits, which she justifies by the feeling of injustice she feels in the application of the health strategy.

“On the one hand, we are told that we are more contaminated inside and on the other hand we are forbidden to find ourselves outside, that makes no sense.

A little far, Jacques, who has just been called to order also deplores the lack of consideration of the specificities of the capital.

“There are less green spaces so obviously we are tighter, but we must not forget, that we live in small apartments, we need to get some fresh air.

“And this, especially since the prospect of a new confinement remains present.

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  • Seine

  • Police

  • Covid 19

  • Confinement

  • Paris

  • Coronavirus