Hundreds of restaurant and bar owners in the French city of Marseille have gathered on the streets to express discontent over the fresh state-backed restrictions imposed in the city in line with the recent resurgence in the number of COVID-19 cases, which include the closures of bars and restaurants, the Sputnik correspondent reported on Friday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th September, 2020) Hundreds of restaurant and bar owners in the French city of Marseille have gathered on the streets to express discontent over the fresh state-backed restrictions imposed in the city in line with the recent resurgence in the number of COVID-19 cases, which include the closures of bars and restaurants, the Sputnik correspondent reported on Friday.
Earlier in the week, the government put Marseille, along with the French overseas department of Guadeloupe, on the "red zone" list of highly infected areas of the country. French Health Minister Olivier Veran has ordered bars and restaurants in both areas to close starting Saturday for two weeks.
"We want to work, we remain open," the protesters who gathered outside the Marseille commercial court are shouting.
On Thursday, the city authorities appealed to the government to delay the introduction of new coronavirus measures for 10 days to see if the epidemic would slow down.
France has seen a sharp increase in COVID-19 infections, with the most recent daily record high of 16,096 cases confirmed on Thursday. Some restrictive measures, including the mandatory wearing of face masks while outdoors and in shared spaces, have been in effect since August.
To date, France has detected 536,289 coronavirus infections and 31,524 related deaths.
