“We cannot live forever in a bell” exclaims Guillaume, 20, who has set up his parents’ cellar in Marcq-en-Baroeul to accommodate 6 or 7 friends, and not completely renounce his social life. With its pallets covered with cushions, its billiard table placed on a wooden crate and its posters on the walls, “it has a charm, and then it makes you think of Prohibition”, this period when alcohol was prohibited for sale in the United States.
After prohibition, rebirth: Laura * has not celebrated with her comrades for nearly a year. The student even spent the New Year alone so as not to end up in a party with 50 people. But for the arrival of her new roommate, she decided to have a housewarming party. “We may move away from the seats, to prevent people from being stuck … But we will see, with alcohol, it will be difficult to make them keep the distance.” They still have space, provided different glasses for each of the 11 guests, and the two hostesses insisted that they do a PCR test first.
A “clandestine” evening interrupted every two days
In recent weeks, the police have intervened regularly for “clandestine” parties in the Lille metropolis. The latest is Tuesday February 2, in the city center of Lille.Thirty-six young people gathered to party in a 90 square meter apartment about. “We still have little perspective on the phenomenon” explains the divisional commissioner Aurélien Cros, but most of these interventions are triggered by what the neighbors call for night noise.
This is precisely what Guillaume wants to avoid: “I hope I won’t end up in custody with your report” the student jokes. He doesn’t turn on the music too loudly, so that his older neighbors don’t call 17. “I don’t know if they are collaborators or not “ he launches in the tone of humor, before becoming serious again. He does not understand that we can give fines of 135 euros to young people who gather in small groups for an evening.
The upsurge in interventions for noise at night is not necessarily explained by an increase in student parties, but especially by a greater availability of the police. Before confinement, they were taken by fights between revelers or thefts at the exit of the restaurant: violence in the nightlife which has sharply decreased with the curfew at 6 p.m. The national police have no more time to devote themselves to complaints from neighbors for the music too loud.
* his first name has been changed
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