A decision which undermines “the individual freedom of people called to move on the territory”. This is how the administrative court qualifies the obligation to wear a mask outdoors for people over 11 years old, a measure decided on last December 30 by the prefect of Loire-Atlantique. As in the Yvelines, then in Paris on Thursday, the summary judge, who had been seized urgently, thus decided to suspend this decree, he announced this Friday.
If the very high incidence rates may justify protecting the nose and mouth in public spaces, the jurisdiction
considered that the prefect should have taken into consideration “the characteristics specific to the different urban, rural or coastal areas of the 207 municipalities of the department”, but also “time slots of high population density”. The generalized wearing of a mask thus constitutes “a disproportionate attack and not appropriate to the circumstances of time and place”.
A new text in preparation
On Friday, government spokesman Gabriel Attal said a new order will “soon” be filed by the Ministry of the Interior concerning the wearing of a mask outside in Paris. He specified that this new version will “define more precisely the conditions under which the mask must be worn outdoors”.
Requested by 20 Minutes, the prefecture of Loire-Atlantique indicates that a “new decree is being prepared by the services of the prefecture”.