PARIS (Reuters) – French police cleared the banks of the River Seine in central Paris on Saturday because of fears that people were getting too close and not respecting the coronavirus’s social distance rules.
Hundreds of people were invited to leave the area – popular for strolling and picnicking on sunny days – and the police closed the banks of the river for the rest of the day.
“The rules of social distance are not being respected,” shouted the police through a megaphone.
The police have been cleaning the area regularly for the past few weeks with the hottest weather, getting people to soak up the sun before the curfew starts from 6 pm to 6 am
Paris police on Friday banned drinking on the riverbank and asked people to limit their meetings.
The government has resisted putting the capital and its surroundings under lockdown again, despite the increase in coronavirus cases and the growing number of patients in the capital’s intensive care units.
The country reported 23,306 new COVID-19 cases confirmed on Saturday, just below 23,507 on Friday. There were 170 new deaths, totaling 88,444.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Jean Castex promised to speed up the launch of the vaccine, including on weekends, in two dozen high-risk areas to avoid further restrictions after criticism of the slow progress of vaccination in the country.
“This Saturday, at 5:30 pm, 220,000 French people were vaccinated, more than double last Saturday. We will continue tomorrow, ”said Health Minister Oliver Veran on Twitter.
As of Saturday, 3.581 million people had received the first jab in France.
Reporting by Michel Rose; Written by John Irish; Edition by Frances Kerry and Christina Fincher