Paris on coronavirus lockdown, with its beloved cafes emptied

Eerily quiet. No one drinking coffee in sidewalk cafes. A punch in the gut to France’s well-known joie de vivre.

Paris is “like a horse without a rider,” said Mohamed Fatnassi, the man in charge of evening service at the famed Closerie des Lilas bar and restaurant.

He spoke on early Sunday, just after the lockdown ban came into effect. By then, the Left Bank restaurant and bar had emptied, and for who knows how long. The abrupt closure order from the Prime Minister Edouard Philippe came in the midst of France’s dinner hour on Saturday night — all eateries should shut at midnight, indefinitely.

“Cafe de Flore is an institution. Everyone has been through here,” Fatnassi said, citing Ernest Hemingway, Pablo Picasso and Vladimir Lenin.

Cafes and eateries have been an essential part of the fabric of social life in France since the first cafe appeared in 17th-century Paris. In villages today, the local cafe is often the only place to come together with neighbors. They’re so essential to social cohesion the French government has launched a plan to ensure they survive.

By Sunday morning, the sidewalk cafes once synonymous with France stood barren. Stacks of chairs looked forlorn, absent of tourists and gossiping locals. At the historic Dome fish restaurant and cafe, a sober sign was taped to the brass-trimmed door, “Exceptional closing due to COVID-19.”

Some restaurants had takeout signs on their doors as carry-out food is still allowed, but the usually bustling Montparnasse tourist haunt was unusually quiet.

“It’s very strange. I wasn’t expecting this,” said Portuguese tourist Artur Rodriguez, who was staying in a neighborhood hotel and noted that French museums were also closed. “We don’t know what to do.”

Like others in Montparnasse district, Fatnassi said there was no advance warning ahead of the restaurant closure announcement.

Authorities said the number of COVID-19 cases in France had doubled in three days, reaching 4,500 infections and 91 deaths, and stricter measures were needed.

As Europe became the new epicenter of the novel coronavirus, neighboring nations like Italy and Spain have ordered much stricter lockdowns to protect people.

Philippe said on Sunday that barrier measures like avoiding crowds and maintaining a one-meter distance were not being fully respected, notably in packed cafes.

“Paris is conviviality,” said Benz Mezian, owner of two Montparnasse bars popular with young people.

Employees stacked chairs and tables at midnight as customers, seated shoulder to shoulder, downed their last drinks.

“We’re all a little anxious,” he said of his 10 employees, “but health is important than business.”