Brittany mayor refuses to impose new France curfew hours

The mayor of a commune in Brittany has refused to enforce the new 18h-06h Covid-19 curfew operating across the rest of France.

The start time of the nationwide curfew was brought forward two hours on Saturday evening, following an announcement from Prime Minister Jean Castex.

The longer curfew had already been in place in 25 departments in the east of the country due to pressure on health services because of the high number of Covid-19 cases. Mr Castex said the stricter measures would be in place for at least 15 days.

But Hervé Guihard, mayor of Saint-Brieuc, Côtes-d'Armor, insisted that 'we are not going to change' from the existing curfew time of 20h in an interview with franceinfo at the weekend.

"We are going to continue to open schools, nurseries, leisure centres, reception centres for the standard opening hours. Because, otherwise, it's always the most disadvantaged who are worst hit," he said.

The town, he said, was not facing an immediate health crisis: "We have gone from zero to two in intensive care. We are not yet in a crisis area. If we were in crisis, I wouldn't have this reaction at all."

He said his decision allowed "families to organise themselves better, to continue to live a little better, to go and fetch their children a little later" and who will "take advantage of this to do their shopping a little earlier and go to the few shops that will be open".

Read more: The latest coronavirus updates in France