About fifty gendarmes deployed on the evening of Wednesday in the department, as well as police officers. The hours leading up to New Year’s Eve are under close surveillance.
In the evening of this Wednesday in Castelculier, accompanied by Lieutenant-Colonel Chataigner, the number 2 of the gendarmerie in Lot-et-Garonne, the prefect Jean-Noël Chavanne recalled the double stake of this second moment of the end of year celebrations. year. First, ensure safety for all on the roads of the department. A few hundred meters from the drama of the morning of Wednesday, about twenty gendarmes checked the vehicles, targeting for example vans or utilities. Attacks on property are also in the sights of the gendarmes, the end of the year period remains conducive to burglary at home or in businesses.
The other aim is also to ensure that the curfew is observed after 8 p.m. “The virus did not go on vacation” released the prefect with a serious smile, then giving the latest figures for the epidemic in Lot-et-Garonne. An incidence rate of 109 per 100,000 inhabitants still higher than the regional average, and a positivity rate of 3.2% above the national figure. “However, these elements allow us to say that to date, we are not concerned by an extension of the curfew, as in other departments. Vigilance remains in spite of everything.”
In the opinion of Lieutenant-Colonel Chataigner, the measures aimed at limiting travel between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. are respected by “a very large majority of the population” in Lot-et-Garonne. The second in command of the national gendarmerie occasionally recalls that the driver, like the passenger or passengers of a vehicle caught in this time slot without valid reason, is liable to a fine of € 135. From this Thursday evening, for the night of New Year’s Eve, a device of more than 300 gendarmes is in place, not to mention the deployment around Villeneuve and Agen of the national police in its area of jurisdiction.
Zero tolerance
The message conveyed by the prefecture is clear: zero tolerance. Celebrating the New Year is prohibited on the public highway and the prefect Chavanne has in the last days signed a series of decrees valid for this Thursday, December 31 and the night of change to 2021. No purchase, sale and transport of fireworks type products. The prefect’s decision prohibits the sale, transport, carrying and use of fireworks and pyrotechnic articles in public places, it prohibits the sale and transport of fuels and fuels in cans or transportable containers.
This decree applies from this Wednesday morning December 30 at 6 a.m. until Sunday morning January 3 at 6 a.m. Alcohol consumption is also prohibited in public places from this Thursday December 31 at 6 p.m. until Friday 1is January at 6 a.m. “No question either of driving at 11:59 pm on the boulevards of Agen to celebrate the New Year on the public highway in due time” insists the prefect, who calls for the responsibility of all before such a special New Year’s Eve.
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