PARIS – Champagne, foie gras and a “potato truffle-covered potato soup” were on the menu at one of the many secretive elite dinners held in Paris, violating national restrictions on coronavirus, according to a French television report.
O report, featuring images from hidden cameras and broadcast over the weekend on the M6 channel, showed unmasked dinners in places like a private mansion and a luxury restaurant. The dinner organizer initially said that several French ministers attended the illegal parties, before backing down their statement.
The report sparked outrage in France, with thousands of people demanding explanations on social media and political leaders calling for strict application of the blocking rules. In response, the Paris prosecutor’s office said on Monday that it would investigate illegal dinners.
The news comes amid a deep feeling of fatigue and frustration with a seemingly endless cycle of restrictions on coronavirus in France, which has just entered a third national blockade with the aim of fighting a third wave of infections.
The station’s report showed employees at an unidentified luxury restaurant offering nightly menus priced at 160 to 490 euros, or about $ 190 to $ 580. Only customers recommended by unidentified third parties would be served, customers were warned.
“We don’t wear a mask here,” a white-haired waiter told a restaurant, actually a disguised journalist. “After passing through the doors, Covid is no more.”
Elsewhere, elegant guests without a mask are seen at a dinner held in a luxurious private mansion. The owner of the mansion is heard saying: “This week I had dinner in two or three restaurants, said clandestine restaurants, with a certain number of ministers”.
The report did not identify the owner of the mansion. But Pierre-Jean Chalançon, a well-known businessman and collector, acknowledged in an interview on Monday that a party had been organized at his mansion, although only nine people had been invited.
The comments he made about the ministers present at the dinners, he said in a statement, were an attempt at humor.
There was no clear evidence that any minister participated in an illegal meeting. Gérald Darmanin, the interior minister, said on Monday that, as far as he knew, no government officials had participated.
The report, however, sparked online fury on Monday. Hashtags like #OnVeutLesNoms, or #WeWantTheNames, reflected widespread anger at the notion that elites were breaking the rules that others had to follow. The problem was still high on Twitter on Tuesday, with a new hashtag: #OnVeutLesDemissions or #WeWantResignations.
It is not the first time that some French restaurants have secretly reopened during the pandemic, defying government rules. Cafes and restaurants have been forced to close for much of last year and have not reopened since the second national blockade last fall, angering many restaurant owners – and customers.
As France entered its third national blockade on Saturday, with schools and non-essential businesses closed for a month, there is a climate of deep discontent in the country. A survey released on Thursday showed that the majority of French people were skeptical about the effectiveness of the new blockade, and almost half said they planned to break the measures.
The Interior Ministry said on Tuesday that more than 7,000 restaurants have been checked by the police since last October, resulting in fines for 300 owners and 1,000 customers.
But while the illegal reopening of small restaurants is often seen as a harmless resistance in the land of gastronomy, illegal dinners have reached a different point, opening a window to the entrenched and clubbing nature of French elites.
Officials who disregard the restrictions they impose on others have been a problem for many governments. Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson came under intense pressure after a close adviser, Dominic Cummings, was found to have violated the blocking rules while traveling across the country.
Last month, French culture minister Roselyne Bachelot attended a closed opera performance and posed for pictures with unmasked artists shortly before the positive test for the coronavirus.
Several French government ministers denied on television and radio programs that they were involved in the secret dinners. If any were, Darmanin said on Sunday, they should be prosecuted.
“There are no two types of citizens, those who are entitled to the party and those who are not,” he said.