“On Saturday, I got completely stuck in the crowd, I was suffocating”… “There were so many people hugging me or pushing me that I feared the worst, a crowd movement”, “really very random checks” , it’s not safe”… At the Strasbourg Christmas market, there were a lot of people this weekend, too many visitors perhaps, who were crowding together in certain places… Testimonies from tourists and more often from Strasbourg residents do not fail to describe the first problems encountered on Saturdays and Sundays in particular, just 10 days after the opening of the Christmas market in the Alsatian capital. Problem of flow management, in particular Place Kléber at the foot of the Grand Fir and the surrounding chalets or even near the cathedral.
So urgently, the prefect of Bas-Rhin Josiane Chevalier organized this Monday a meeting with elected officials from the city of Strasbourg but also Dominique Rodriguez, deputy departmental director of public security, to rework the management of flows on certain areas of the Christmas market, before a tragedy occurs.
“A progress update on the operation of the Christmas market”, explains the prefect in a press release this Monday evening, “to adapt certain systems”. The objective, explains the prefecture, is to “ensure maximum security”, in particular by avoiding crowd movements by facilitating evacuations in the event of incidents.
Also, several measures will be taken: bag and luggage checks will be reinforced on the access bridges to the city center. The chalets will have to keep up to date and will not be able to extend, as is already the case for some, and will have to strictly respect the installation plans. On the other hand, “dedicated teams” will be put in place to enforce the ban on “artistic activities and commercial activities” in the public domain. Finally, access to the cathedral will be modified so as not to mix the flow of visitors to the building with that of the Christmas market.