Faced with the resumption of the covid-19 epidemic, the prefect of Côte-d’Or issued a decree imposing the wearing of masks in 8 municipalities of the agglomeration of Dijon. Following an appeal lodged with the administrative court, the court asks him to partially modify its text.
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Why did the prefect of Côte-d’Or take an order requiring the wearing of a mask?
The increase in the number of covid-19 cases is accelerating. The contamination figures started to rise again with the start of the school year and the resumption in companies. Now, more than a quarter of French departments are in the red zone, this is the case of the Côte-d’Or which joined this list since Sunday, September 6.
Due to the active circulation of the virus in the department, the prefect of Côte-d’Or has issued a decree which requires the wearing of a mask outside since September 5 at 0 am.
This measure, which was taken for one month, concerns 8 urban municipalities in the Dijon agglomeration. (Dijon, Ahuy, Fontaine-lès-Dijon, Chenôve, Chevigny-Saint-Sauveur, Talant, Saint-Apollinaire and Quetigny).
Wearing a mask is required – between 8 am and midnight – for pedestrians over 11 years old.
This measure does not concern cyclists, nor people with a medical certificate proving that they are not wearing a mask. In addition, 19 parks and gardens were excluded from the perimeter to allow, in particular, the exercise of a physical and sports activity.
This generalization of the wearing of a mask is contested by Dijon citizens who want the decree better define the portions of the public highway and the time slots during which the wearing of a mask is required.
They consider that the text by imposing an overly general obligation a serious interference with the freedom to come and go and the personal freedom of people called upon to travel on the territory of the municipalities concerned.
No need for a map to know where to wear the mask in the city center! Signs have been installed at the entrance to the streets concerned …
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© Damien Rabeisen – France Televisions
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What did the Dijon administrative court decide?
The Dijon administrative court rendered its decision Tuesday, September 8, 2020. The prefect of Côte-d’Or has 48 hours from the notification of the order to issue a new order or to modify his order of September 3, 2020.
Justice asks him to “limit in the municipalities concerned” the obligation to wear a mask “perimeters making it possible to encompass in a coherent way places characterized by a high density of people or a difficulty in ensuring respect for physical distance”.
Note that “this injunction does not concern the municipality of Ahuy for which the obligation to wear a mask has already been limited to a perimeter corresponding to an activity zone”, specifies the judge of summary proceedings.
Justice has asked to revise decrees in other cities in France
Parisian lawyer Fabrice Di Vizio has already relaxed two prefectural orders in Strasbourg and Lyon.
In Strasbourg, the Council of State partially acceded to the complainants’ requests. He asked for the limitation of the mask requirement in the city center in certain less dense municipalities.
In Lyon, the Council of State issued a similar decision and also asked the prefect to exclude from this constraint people practicing physical or sports activities.
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