The 'Fete de la Musique' (Music Festival) currently taking place in France risks being seriously compromised by the heat wave arriving in the country, with 35 departments placed on red alert , a record number, where the consumption of alcohol will be prohibited.
Several cities have cancelled concerts scheduled for the 45th edition of the “Fête de la Musique,” the annual gathering of amateur and professional musicians in streets and bars across the country, while Météo-France predicts temperatures reaching 45 degrees Celsius.
In Paris, as in Lyon and Strasbourg, the city administration has chosen to maintain the event. This is to "be able to organize and manage it rather than be overwhelmed," explained the capital's mayor, Emmanuel Grégoire. 4,800 police officers and gendarmes, as well as 2,500 firefighters, will be deployed in the capital and surrounding area, according to a statement from Paris police headquarters. Processions will be prohibited on the lower banks to "avoid any risk of falling into the Seine." To minimize heat-related illnesses and public disorder, alcohol consumption will be prohibited in public spaces in departments on red alert for the heat wave—the highest alert level—and in some others on orange alert. The government has also announced that alcohol will not be served at state-organized events and has activated an inter-ministerial crisis unit. "Alcohol and high temperatures don't mix," Health Minister Stéphanie Rist explained to the newspaper Le Parisien.
All activities related to the Fête de la Musique have been banned until 8 p.m. , when temperatures are expected to drop a few degrees. Authorities are also concerned about the growing trend, in recent years, of thousands of British people flocking to Paris for the Fête de la Musique, a phenomenon whose popularity among young people has skyrocketed with the spread of images on social media.
(Unioneonline)
