Calls for Socialist Mayor to Resign After Breaking National Corona Curfew for Ramadan Market

This photo taken on May 27, 2017 in the Barbes area of Paris, shows food prepared for holy
BENJAMIN CREMEL/AFP via Getty Images
Chris Tomlinson

A French socialist mayor has been urged to resign after she was caught breaking the national coronavirus lockdown curfew to visit a Ramadan market.

Hélène Geoffroy, mayor of the French commune of Vaulx-en-Velin, visited the Ramadan market on Saturday at around 7:16 pm, according to a video posted to social media which showed her walking around the area.

The visit is an apparent violation of France’s Wuhan coronavirus lockdown curfew, which maintains that people must be in their homes at 7 pm, except in certain circumstances such as medical emergencies or if they are working at a job deemed essential.

According to a report from Lyonmag, opposition mayoral candidate Christine Bertin criticised Mayor Geoffroy and called on her to resign.

“It has been four days of inaction since the mayor had visited the site. Let’s hope it wasn’t for shopping,” Bertin said, noting that the market had been allowed to operate despite breaking the nationwide curfew.

“Hélène Geoffroy once again proves by her inaction, her disinterest in our city,” Bertin said. Shen then noted Geoffroy was making moves to become the first secretary of the French Socialist Party (PS) and added: “We ask that she resign.”

The incident comes after police and gendarmes in the French department of Tarn were instructed to bend curfew rules — strictly enforced for others — for Muslims during the Ramadan period.

According to obtained internal emails, officers were instructed not to hand out warnings or fines to Muslims travelling until 10 pm or from 5 am, despite both being outside of the national curfew, which is between 7 pm to 6 am.

Police expressed concern with the instructions, with one officer stating that he had no thorough and reliable way to prove someone was Muslim, Jewish, or Christian.

Geoffroy is also just the latest French officials to be accused of violating the coronavirus lockdown rules. Earlier this month, several unnamed French ministers were accused of dining in secret restaurants in violation of lockdown restrictions.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com

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