Marseille becomes France’s battleground in fight against Covid-19

‘It’s not fair to punish everyone because some may not have followed the rules,’ says one businessman. That voice of resentment is by no means a lone one, Chris O'Brien reports from Marseille

A couple have lunch in Marseille next to a sign reading ‘No to the shutdown, Mr Macron’ (AFP/Getty)

Marseille may have been largely spared during the early months of the pandemic in spring, but this Mediterranean city has now become ground zero in France’s fight over how to manage the second wave of Covid-19. 

A backlash boiled over last week when restaurant and bar owners took to the streets in Marseille to protest against government mandates that they close for two weeks due to rising coronavirus rates in France’s second-largest city. Local politicians adopted an insurrectional tone by blasting the new orders on Twitter and in press conferences where they called the move unjust, threatened legal action to block it, and even hinted that police would not enforce it.  

Marseille is the only major city in mainland France facing such severe measures, and the lack of warning left many feeling singled out by distant elites in their rival city of Paris. Having barely survived the economic blow last spring, a sense of anger and despair weighed heavily on the mood of small business owners now fearing the economic fallout the shutdown could have on a city that already suffers one of France’s highest rates of poverty.