COUVRE-FEU - It was an evening that cost them dearly. On Sunday 8 February, 97 people gathered in a shisha bar in Martigues (Bouches-du-Rhône) to watch OM-PSG in the middle of a curfew and without respecting health regulations were fined, the police announced.
All received a fine (135 euros) or a double fine (270 euros) for not wearing a mask and not complying with the curfew, the Direction départementale de la sécurité publique (DDSP) told AFP. "There was no respect for distances. It was completely unreasonable, just nonsense", commented the DDSP.
The number of tickets issued has increased in recent weeks in France as part of a drive to enforce the curfew. At the beginning of February, for example, in the Val-de-Marne region of Paris, the police issued 133 fines for breaching the curfew after a clandestine party attended by 80 people.
A total of 177,000 fines have been imposed since the 6 p.m. curfew was introduced on Saturday 16 January, announced Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin at a press briefing on Thursday 4 February to review the health situation in France.
In detail, "the number of these checks increased by 39% last weekend compared with the previous weekend", said the Minister, who assured us that these checks would continue to "intensify". The number of fines imposed "increased by 53%".
Gérald Darmanin also said that he had "asked the police to be particularly vigilant about clandestine parties and restaurants".
Le HuffPost with AFP
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