Since July 22, it is forbidden to drink alcohol on the Place de la République in Dijon. The goal: to stop the fights and incivilities that taint the lives of residents and traders. But two weeks later, the situation has not changed.
The summer of 2022 is tense in the Place de la République. “There’s no shortage of fights“, confirms a young Dijonnais who is used to frequenting the square. “It’s hot, people are excited, under alcohol, it can quickly degenerate“, adds his friend. “There are drunk people, they shout. It is not a place to pass when you are a woman or to walk with the children“, deplores a resident, mother of a family.
On July 22, the prefecture issued an order to prohibit the consumption of alcohol in this emblematic square in Dijon, from 2 p.m. to 6 a.m., following repeated incidents in recent months. But two weeks after its entry into force, nothing has really changed. “When we wait for the bus, we come in groups so as not to be alone. We don’t feel safe“, admits Kloé, a teenager.
“Yesterday, there were 25 of them, shirtless until 11 p.m., fighting, they were all drunk, they were buying beers in the small local shops… I saw absolutely nothing that changed“, says Xavier Colin, who has managed the Alhambra bar with his wife for 11 years.
Nearby, another shopkeeper looks gloomy: Cyril Griffin, pizzeria owner. “I have lots of clients who have told me: we don’t want to come anymore. I even have a neighbour, his 10 year old daughter said she wanted to move because she was scared on her way home from schoolThe restaurateur is losing 30 to 40% of turnover per month lately. He plans to change his activity soon and transform his restaurant into a night bar. This may be one of the last types of businesses to thrive in République: around the square, there are no less than seven dancing bars or nightclubs.
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