Several French cities have scrapped their Bastille Day fireworks displays this Wednesday as the highly contagious Delta variant gains ground amid fears of a fourth virus wave.
Lille, Nancy, Brest, Nantes and others have cancelled their 14 July festivities to limit the spread of infection, with pyrotechnics shows banned in much of northern France until Thursday.
"I don't understand this decision,” Philippe, a fireworks maker in Roubaix, near Lille, told BFMTV.
“The nightclubs have reopened, the restaurants are bursting full – and we can't do our job despite being outside.”
The 14 July fireworks are one of the most eagerly awaited events of the year in Carcasonne, in the south of France, where 500,000 spectators gather every summer.
⚠️ La feu d'artifice prévu le 13 Juillet à Roubaix est annulé suite aux mesures prises par le @prefet59. Les autres feux d'artifices de la @MEL_Lille sont aussi annulés pic.twitter.com/tfuHsCazL6
— Ville de Roubaix (@roubaix) July 10, 2021
This year, however, the town hall has cancelled the event, arguing that crowd control would be too difficult.
"What you have to understand is that the fireworks can be seen from thousands of points, and it is this multitude of viewpoints that is uncontrollable," said Magali Bardot, deputy mayor in charge of tourism.
In Paris, however, the show will go on – with the Eiffel Tower set to put on its usual Bastille Day extravaganza in the evening, while a military parade will be held in honour of European troops in the Sahel.
Delta force
Health Minister Olivier Véran warned on Sunday that France was facing the full force of the Delta variant, with more than 4,600 new cases.
"We are at the start of something that looks like an epidemic wave,” he told the French broadcaster Radio J. "It’s the new enemy because it is much more contagious.”
Véran's gloomy prognosis comes ahead of a meeting at the Elysée during which President Emmanuel Macron is expected to weigh up whether to order compulsory vaccinations for caregivers.
