- Title: Surf's not up: French police chase off lockdown surfers
- Date: 11th May 2020
- Summary: CANNES, FRANCE (MAY 11, 2020) (REUTERS) SURFER JUMPING INTO WATER SURFER SURFING BEACH WITH SURFERS IN BACKGROUND SIGN AT BEACH READING (French and English): "CORONAVIRUS COVID-19 - BEACHES CLOSED - ACCESS AND SWIMMING PROHIBITED" POLICE BOAT ARRIVING AT BEACH POLICE BOAT APPROACHING SURFERS SURFERS GETTING OUT OF WATER WITH BOAT AT COAST POLICE BOAT SURFERS GETTING OUT OF BEACH / JOURNALIST ASKING: "What did they (police) tell you?" (SOUNDBITE) (French) UNIDENTIFIED SURFER SAYING: "Nothing, they fired up the sirens, seeing as we're fugitives now, I'm careful." SURFER ON BEACH, POLICE BOAT IN BACKGROUND SURFER SURFING / SURFERS ON BEACH POLICE BOAT AT SEA BELGIAN SURFER, NICOLAS, FILMING SURFERS (SOUNDBITE) (French) BELGIAN SURFER LIVING NEAR CANNES, NICOLAS, SAYING: "How long did we surf, what, two hours? Four police officers arrived and made us get out of the water, but it didn't take us long to get back into the water." MAN SITTING ON RAILING / BEACH WITH SURFERS SURFERS SURFING SURFERS GATHERED AT BEACH (SOUNDBITE) (French) SURFER, ADRIEN, SAYING: "It's so much fun, we've got the waves, the sun." (SOUNDBITE) (French) SURFER, AXEL, SAYING: "I thought I saw that we were allowed to practise water sports, then we just said, 'It's all good, let's get in the water.'" (SOUNDBITE) (French) SURFER, ADRIEN, SAYING: "There's a little spot just by the rocks there, we can do breaks right over there. (Another surfer arriving and shouting) That's the dream!" (SOUNDBITE) (French) UNIDENTIFIED SURFER SAYING: "It's almost worth the 135-euro fine." SURFER GETTING OUT OF WATER WOMAN FILMING SURFERS SURFERS LEAVING
- Embargoed: 25th May 2020 16:10
- Keywords: Cannes France beaches coronavirus outbreak deconfinement lockdown surfers
- Location: CANNES, FRANCE
- City: CANNES, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Topics: Health/Medicine,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA001CDHMDS7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Surfers in southern France on Monday (May 11) defied a government-issued closure of beaches as the country started to ease a nearly two-month long lockdown in the battle against the new coronavirus.
Around a dozen surfers rode the Mediterranean waves in Cannes for around two hours before being shooed away by police on boats.
"Police officers arrived and made us get out of the water, but it didn't take us long to get back into the water," surfer Nicolas said.
Beaches nationwide have been shut for weeks as the government put itself on lockdown in mid-March to curb the spread of the virus, which has to date killed more than 26,000 nationwide.
The government started easing lockdown measures on Monday (May 11), allowing the country's 67 million inhabitants to leave their homes without permission slips. But Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has said last week that beaches will not be permitted to reopen to the public until at least early June.
Beach closures nationwide have taken a toll on the tourism sector and on businesses that rely on visitor influx for their revenues, such as restaurants, cafes and hotels, leading many around the country to call on the opening up of shores.
(Production: Michel Bernouin, Ardee Napolitano) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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