France’s government announced relief measures on Tuesday for bars, cafés and restaurants forced to reduce hours or close due to new Covid-19 restrictions after angry owners denounced measures they described as incoherent and ineffective, reports Radio France Internationale.
On Monday evening, bars and cafés in Paris and 11 other French cities classified as “high risk” were obliged to close at 10pm due to new Covid-19 restrictions that were to last at least two weeks.
Restaurants and bars have been ordered to close entirely in “maximun risk” classified cities Marseille and Aix-en-Provence, where admissions to intensive care are at the highest levels in the country.
The new measures have provoked protests and a lawsuit from angry owners and officials in France’s second-largest city since their announcement last week and come as a blow for a sector struggling after confinement in early spring and a reduced tourist season in the summer.
“We have the impression that we’re being punished,” says Rémi Halegua, director of The Shamrock, an Irish pub in the touristic Old Port district of Marseille that closed on Monday.
Halegua says confinement and reduced hours already meant reduced business by 50 to 60 percent this year and wishes the government had considered other ways of ensuring health measures were being respected.
“They could have easily let the outdoor terraces of bars and restaurants stay open and carry out more police checks. People are pretty disciplined, and I see no problem at all on terraces.”