French Cities Starts New Month Long Curfew
Paris: French restaurants, bars and cafes faced a busy evening before a month-long curfew started at midnight (22:00 GMT) in Paris and other cities.
The controversial night curfew is aimed at curbing the soaring coronavirus infection rate in France, which is one of Europe's coronavirus hotspots.
The full curfew begins on Saturday, from 21:00 to 06:00 every night.
The Paris region and eight other cities are affected, including Marseille, Lyon, Lille and Toulouse.
About 20 million French people are covered by it, but mayors in some towns - notably Le Touquet and Creil in the north - have also announced curfews to prevent a knock-on effect, as frustrated revellers seek somewhere else to meet.
Le Touquet is on the coast west of Lille, while Creil lies just north of Paris and was badly hit by the first Covid wave in March.
French BFMTV said La Boîte aux Lettres, a restaurant in Paris's popular Montmartre district, had received a flood of bookings for Friday evening.
The manager, Antonin Prion, said: "I hope this [curfew] has an impact and isn't in vain, because this is really doing us damage."
A couple wearing protective face masks embrace, in front of the Paris skyline seen from Montmartre at nightfall, just hours before a city-wide night time curfew goes into effect in Paris, France, 16 October 2020
There have been bitter complaints from restaurant owners, already suffering after the two-month lockdown in spring, when the pandemic swept through Europe.
"I've never seen anything like this in the 50 years I've been here," said Stain Roman, a restaurateur in Marseille, quoted by AFP news agency.
Currently the government advises them to restrict each table to six people maximum. They are also observing strict hygiene rules and collecting customers' contact details for track-and-trace.
Coronavirus has killed more than 32,000 people in France - among the highest death tolls in Europe.
