MARSELLA, France – An angry restaurant and bar are protesting in Marseille to challenge the French government’s order to close all public establishments on Saturday to combat the resurgence of viral infections.
Protesters and local officials in France’s second-largest city also threaten to take legal action in an attempt to block the order through the courts, claiming that virus cases in Marseille have stabilized and that the central government of Paris unfairly elects Marseille for maximum serious viral measures in the country.
The government argues that hospitals in this Mediterranean city are under pressure and that closures are the only way to curb spread and avoid additional closures. The French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe is under orders.
The central government also ordered less severe new restrictions for a dozen cities, adding Paris, where infections and hospitalizations are increasing, but the infection rate of 100,000 inhabitants is lower than that of Marseille or Guadeloupe.
On Thursday, France reported more than 16,000 new infections and more than 10% of the country’s large care beds are now occupied by patients with COVID-19. France reported 31,511 virus-related deaths, including those in Europe.
Crowds piled up through a union of hotel corporations on open Friday in a Marseille courthouse, and some business leaders threatened to defy the closing order.
The president of the Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur region that includes Marseille, Renaud Muselier, said he would file a pressing legal lawsuit on Friday to protest against movements “restricting the exercise of freedom to do Array business . . . disproportionately,” according to media reports.
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