パリでコロナ規制違反の「豪華夕食会」か　報道で捜査開始

【パリＡＦＰ＝時事】フランスの民放テレビが、新型コロナウイルスの流行にもかかわらず首都パリで豪華夕食会が秘密裏に開催されていると報じ、エリート層が自ら設けた新型ウイルス対策規則に傲然（ごうぜん）と違反していると指摘した。これを受けて当局は捜査を開始し、政界を巻き込んだ騒動に発展している。（写真は資料写真）
　民放Ｍ６は２日、パリの高級地区にある秘密のレストランとされる場所で撮影された隠しカメラの映像を基に、今回の報道を行った。この映像の中では、スタッフも客もマスクを着用していなかった。
　フランスでは現在、コロナ対策ですべての飲食店とカフェの店内営業禁止が続いている。
　パリ検察は４日、報道を受けて、他者の命を危険にさらす行為をめぐり捜査が開始されたと明らかにした。「これらの夜会が衛生規則を無視して開催されたかどうか」を調べ、主催者や参加者とみられる人物らを特定するとしている。
　匿名でＭ６の取材に応じたある情報筋は、音声を変えて放送されたインタビューの中で、こうした夜会は実際に催されており、参加した招待客の中には閣僚らも含まれていたと語っていた。
　この情報筋は後に、パリ中心部にある高級イベント会場「パレ・ビビエンヌ」を運営するピエールジャン・シャランソン氏だったことが、メディアなどによって特定された。
　シャランソン氏は４日夜、代理人弁護士を通じてＡＦＰに出したコメントで、自身が情報源だったことを暗に認めた一方で、閣僚らが関与していたとする発言は撤回する姿勢を示した。
　シャランソン氏は２月にも、政府のガブリエル・アタル報道官が同様の食事会に参加する予定だと発言していた。アタル氏はこれを断固否定している。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】

〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/04/06-14:00）

A report by a French television channel alleging clandestine luxury dinners in Paris despite the pandemic has sparked an investigation and public furore over claims the nation's political elite were brazenly ignoring rules they themselves had set.
The M6 private channel on Friday broadcast a reportage based on footage recorded with a hidden camera purportedly from a clandestine restaurant in a high-end area of Paris where neither the staff nor the diners were wearing masks.
All restaurants and cafes have been closed in France for eating in for the last five months. The country this week began a new limited nationwide lockdown to deal with surging Covid-19 infections.
The hashtag #OnVeutLesNoms (We Want the Names) went viral on Twitter, as speculation swirled over who may have attended such dinners.
Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz said Sunday that a criminal probe had been opened into putting the lives of others at risk.
The investigation would assess if these evenings were organised in defiance of health rules and to determine who were the possible organisers and participants.
The report showed staff at the venue proposing an evening menu from 160 euros ($189) per head but said that the most expensive option went for 490 euros ($578), including a bottle of champagne.
Removing the face mask was not just possible but obligatory, it said.
We don't wear a mask here. Once you pass through the doors, Covid no longer exists. We want people to feel at ease, a staff member told the undercover team.
- 'Without exception' -
One source interviewed by M6, whose identity was not revealed and whose voice was distorted, told the channel that such evenings had taken place and guests present had even included ministers.
The source was later identified by media and bloggers as Pierre-Jean Chalencon, who runs the luxury Palais Vivienne event venue in the centre of Paris.
In statement sent to AFP through his lawyer late Sunday, Chalencon implicitly acknowledged he was the source but also appeared to retract the claim ministers were involved, saying he was only showing humour and the sense of the absurd.
He added by phone that there had been no kitchen since December 2 at the Palais Vivienne.
M6 later broadcast its full interview identifying Chalencon as the source and without distorting his voice, noting that his tone had been far from humorous.
We are still in a democracy, we can do what we like, he said.
The report was no laughing matter for members of the government, days after President Emmanuel Macron ordered new restrictions including a brief closure of schools to keep cases down before the effects of the vaccine drive kick in.
Chalencon had been recorded saying in February that government spokesman Gabriel Attal, a rising cabinet star, would be attending such a dinner. Attal vehemently denied the claim.
But deputy interior minister Marlene Schiappa told French TV that if ministers or lawmakers were involved they should be fined and penalised like any other citizen.
Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire insisted: All the ministers, without exception, respect the rules.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said those involved in such dinners should be prosecuted if the allegations in the report were true.
There are not two types of citizens -- those who have the right to party and those who do not, he said.
Insinuations that politicians and officials have not followed the very restriction measures they themselves set have proved hugely damaging to governments across Europe throughout the pandemic.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson last year came under immense pressure after allegations his former top aide Dominic Cummings broke lockdown rules by travelling across the country while displaying Covid-19 symptoms.
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