Police checkpoints seek to prevent new Paris exodus

MORE than 160,000 police and gendarmes have been deployed across France this weekend to prevent people breaking the lockdown to leave home for the Easter holidays.

Police set up additional checkpoints on motorways and on roads out of Paris and other major cities and towns.

They also checked travellers at railway stations and airports.

“The virus is not on holiday,” said Edouard Philippe, the French prime minister. “Lives are at stake.”

Maritime police are also intercepting yachts off the Riviera and resorts such as the Ile de Ré, in western France.

French families would normally be streaming out of the cities for the Easter break, which began on Friday.

However, police checked hundreds of thousands of travellers on Friday and yesterday, but found relatively few rule-breakers. “The warnings appear to be working so far,” an interior ministry official said yesterday.

Videos posted on social media showing traffic jams on roads out of Paris appear to have been fake.

There had been fears many people would attempt to travel to holiday or family homes, echoing the exodus from Paris in the run-up to the lockdown.

Estimates based on mobile phone data indicate about 17 per cent of the capital’s residents left for the provinces in the 48 hours before the restrictions took effect, ignoring pleas to stay put to avoid spreading the virus.

Anyone deemed not to have a valid reason for travelling is liable for a €135 (£119) fine. They are also being ordered to return home, and may be fined again if stopped en route. The fine rises to €200 (£176) for a second offence and €3,750 (£3,302) and a six-month prison term for three offences within 30 days.

Some 5.8million people have been stopped and asked for permission forms showing they are authorised to leave home. More than 359,000 fines have been imposed.

People in France are allowed to leave home for work, food shopping, exercise such as jogging for a maximum of one hour, medical treatment or family emergencies.