Early closures, bans on dancing, drinking or eating … The long list of restrictions on December 31

No general curfew, but strict local measures and clearly displayed firmness. To limit the spread of the Covid, and especially Omicron during this holiday season, the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin this week asked the prefects, in a telegram, to make arrangements for “deter gatherings” and impose the wearing of the mask in the city center, in particular for New Year’s Eve.

State officials were quick to react. Many orders have indeed been taken, requiring the wearing of masks outdoors in several cities. In addition, specific measures have been taken for the evening of December 31. Here is the gist of it.

If the curfew has been excluded at the national level, this measure which marked the winter of 2020 is coming back by the back door, in order to limit acts of delinquency. The Prefect of Bas-Rhin has established a curfew for minors under 16 on the night of December 31 at 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. on January 1, 2022 in the localities of: Strasbourg, Hoenheim, Bischeim, Schiltigheim , Illkirch-Graffenstaden, Lingolsheim and Ostwald.

In the Oise, a curfew for unaccompanied minors under 16 will be introduced in certain districts of Compiègne and Pont-Sainte-Maxence (Oise) on New Year’s Eve, mainly to prevent urban violence.

Thereby, “the circulation and parking on public roads of unaccompanied minors under the age of 16 (…) are prohibited on the night of December 31” from 10 p.m. until January 1 at 6 a.m. in several districts, in particular the city center and the sensitive district of Clos des Roses. In Pont-Sainte-Maxence, a similar decision was taken from December 31 to January 2 by the town hall after “the handrails of the municipal police” regarding “troubles linked to fireworks shots” and several brawls in October and November between young people from two parts of the city.

In Réunion, a curfew, aimed at limiting social interactions and the mixing of populations, will be introduced from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. every day and throughout the territory. This measure will come into force from Saturday January 1 until Sunday January 23 inclusive.

In Paris, Gironde, Drôme and in the vast majority of French departments, all bars and restaurants will have to close at 2 a.m. No curfew therefore, but the obligation to get customers out of establishments well before dawn.

“In drinking establishments and restaurants, the stop of the service will have to be organized at 1 hour and these establishments will have to close their doors at 2 hours on the night of January 1, 2022, without possibility for the mayors to be able to deviate from this schedule”, also warns the prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes.

In Toulouse and Haute-Garonne, restaurants and drinking establishments, without exception, will be closed from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m.

In the Bas-Rhin, all drinking establishments and restaurants in the department must be closed by 3 a.m. at the latest.

In the Rhône, late opening exemptions after 1 a.m. granted to drinking establishments and restaurants are suspended from December 31, 2021 at midnight until January 2, 2022 at noon. “Consequently, these establishments must imperatively close at 1 am, without any exemption being possible”, warns the prefecture.

In Reunion Island, establishments open to the public can welcome customers until 9 p.m. in accordance with the protocols in force. It is up to the customers to take into account the transport times necessary to reach their home before 9 p.m. Only businesses selling basic goods and services can remain open. The service stations can continue their activity according to their usual hours, exclusively for the sale of fuel.

Dance activities in all establishments open to the public are prohibited in Paris from Friday December 31, 2021 from 6 p.m. until Monday January 3, 2022 at 6 a.m., ditto for Hauts-de-Seine and most of the departments French. They are also prohibited in the Rhône.

In Seine-et-Marne, dancing evenings are prohibited in all establishments open to the public, as well as public places, covered or not, from December 31st at 6 p.m. to January 3 at 6 a.m.

In the Alpes-Maritimes,“Any distribution of amplified music, particularly by loudspeakers, is prohibited in public spaces”.

On the whole of the territory of the City of Paris and in the majority of Ile-de-France are prohibited, from Friday December 31, 2021 from 6 p.m. and until Monday January 3, 2022 at 6 a.m., gatherings of persons giving rise to the consumption of alcoholic beverages on public roads.

In Calvados, festive musical gatherings of the tecknival, rave-party or free party type are prohibited, regardless of the number of participants, until March 31, 2022. They are prohibited throughout the territory on the evening of the 31st.

In Finistère, the prefect issued an order to prohibit, from Friday, December 31, 2021, 6 p.m. to Monday, January 3, 2022, at 8 a.m., throughout the department, festive gatherings of a musical nature, with the exception of those legally declared or authorized. Is also prohibited, on all road networks, “the circulation of any vehicle carrying sound equipment (sound system) likely to be used for an unauthorized event is prohibited on all road networks “.

In the Bas-Rhin, the prefect warns that: “Private parties whose size and organizational conditions resemble a disco activity are, in fact, contrary to COVID regulations. The organizers may in this case be subject to prosecution.”

In Paris, from Friday December 31, 2021 from 6 p.m. until Monday January 3, 2022 at 6 a.m., the police prefect established a perimeter within which the consumption of alcohol is prohibited in public spaces as well as the take-away sale of drinks. Among the streets concerned: the surroundings of the Hôtel de Ville, the top of the rue Mouffetard, the Esplanade des Invalides, the Champs-Élysées and its surroundings, notably the quays of the Seine.

In the Bas-Rhin, the sale and consumption of alcohol on public roads is prohibited from December 31 at noon to January 1 at noon. This is also the case in Drôme, Orne, Calvados, in the North, Loire-Atlantique and in most of the French departments.

In the Alpes-Maritimes, the consumption of food while strolling in squares, roads and public places, outside restaurant terraces and authorized drinking establishments, is prohibited, from Friday December 31, 2021 at 6 p.m. to Sunday January 2, 2022 at 6 hours.

In several departments, such as Bas-Rhin or Orne, Calvados, or the North, until Monday, January 3 at 8 a.m., the port, transport, purchase, sale and transfer of all fireworks and pyrotechnic articles.

Due to the health situation which continues to deteriorate, the prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes, banned by prefectural decree the organization of fireworks shows in all the municipalities of the department from Friday December 31, 2021 at 4 p.m. to Sunday January 2 at 6 a.m. .

In the Bas-Rhin, the distribution, purchase, take-away sale of fuel in any transportable container has been prohibited since December 25 and until January 3, 6 a.m.

This is also the case in the Orne, from Wednesday December 29 until Saturday January 1 at 6 a.m. Retailers, managers and operators of service stations, in particular those which have automated devices allowing the distribution of fuels, must take the necessary measures to enforce this ban.

In the majority of the decrees, the prefects state this prohibition.

In the capital, several metro, bus, RER and train lines will operate all night long, as they do every year, until 5.30 am. “The prefect of police asked that the establishments close at two o’clock, but we could not close the transportations at that time. To do so was to take the risk of having a large influx between one hour and two o’clock in the morning. There, the returns to homes will be spread over the night. In addition, leaving the transport open dissuades many revelers from taking their car. Leaving part of the transport open was also a guarantee in terms of safety road“, we tell Ile-de-France Mobilités.

Checks will be made on the night of the 31st, in particular concerning the respect of the wearing of the mask.

Throughout the country, the police will be mobilized particularly on the night of December 31, 2021, and will ensure that these various measures are respected and applied, which aim to limit the circulation of the virus as much as possible and to preserve our health personnel already strongly mobilized. In Paris, nearly 9,000 police and soldiers will be present.

The details of the orders can be found on the sites of each prefecture or on the sites of the town halls.