“The situation is improving, vaccination is progressing, (…), but the virus is still there, the pandemic still exists, so there is a need to respect health measures” explained Ms. Schiappa on Europe 1.
The Minister Delegate for Citizenship Marlène Schiappa reminded on Sunday for young people that “the virus is still there”, while saying to understand their “desire to party”, after two giant evenings at the Invalides in Paris, interrupted by the police.
“The situation is improving, vaccination is progressing, (…), but the virus is still there, the pandemic still exists, so there is a need to respect health measures” explained Ms. Schiappa on Europe 1, stressing “that there are still 12,000 people at the moment who are hospitalized because they suffer from severe forms of Covid-19”.
“I understand and obviously share the desire of these young people and these people to meet and celebrate,” she said before. “I see how much the youth have made sacrifices.”
According to her, the evacuation of the Esplanade des Invalides by the police on Saturday evening “took time because the idea was precisely to use as little force as possible while trying to ensure that there was no have no overflow “. The young revelers met by AFP on site were often under 18 and some expressed their need to let off steam after the baccalaureate exam.
Friday and Saturday, they gathered by the hundreds on the large lawns of the Invalides (7th arrondissement), for “Project X” evenings, named after a 2012 American film centered on a youth party that goes wrong. They danced, most often gathered without a mask and without respecting barrier gestures, before being dispersed by tear gas from the police.
At least four arrests
Saturday evening, the evening gave rise to at least four arrests, according to the Paris police headquarters, which called for responsibility on Twitter on Sunday. The police had to intervene in the night from Saturday to Sunday for new clandestine festive gatherings.
Around midnight, the police intervened in the Tino-Rossi square (5th arrondissement) where there were some 250 people. Around 1:00 a.m., “300 to 400 people present at Place Jussieu (5th arrondissement) were evacuated without incident” and around 2:00 a.m., 200 to 300 people present in the Carrousel garden near the Louvre (1st arrondissement) had to be evacuated by police officers, who were taken to task, according to a police source.
For Ms. Schiappa, it is now a question of “finding ways and means – with concerts, with sporting events, with other things – that this celebration can take place while respecting health measures”.
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