France warns restaurants

PARIS: French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire warned restaurant owners on Monday they risked losing Covid-19 financial aid if they open in defiance of the pandemic shutdown, following protests and reports that some are secretly serving customers.

Angry owners say their livelihoods are at risk since the closures were ordered on October 30, with little prospect of a return to business as usual anytime soon. Stephane Turillon, a chef in Cusance, eastern France, made good on his threat to open Monday in an act of "civil disobedience" that he hopes others will emulate.

"We want to start a discussion with the state, because you can’t fight this pandemic by closing everything down," Turillon told AFP as he welcomed several dozen patrons in tents set up near his restaurant, "La Source Bleue".

"All I’m asking for is the right to work," he said. In Villeurbanne, outside Lyon, a crowd of supporters cheered Philippe Vieira at his restaurant after he refrained from opening as planned to serve a protest meal. Le Maire acknowledged that "it’s extremely hard for restaurants, economically and in terms of morale."

"But in no way does that justify not respecting the rules," he told RTL radio. On Saturday, police in Paris said they discovered 24 restaurants operating illicitly, and warned they would step up controls following reports of dozens of similar cases in recent weeks.