⁍ Protesters in Marseille demanded President Emmanuel Macron’s government reverse an order to shut down bars and restaurants.

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⁍ Local politicians said the move was disproportionate to the risk and would devastate the local economy.

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⁍ The pandemic has killed more than 31,500 people and infected nearly half a million, the second-highest in Western Europe behind Spain.

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– “We should stay open, they won’t be able to close everyone,” the owner of a bar in Marseilles, France, tells Reuters. “And if there’s a fine, well, we’ll take it, but we’ll be better off working than shutting.” Some bars and restaurants in the second-biggest city in France are defying a government order to close due to a second wave of coronavirus infections, which has killed more than 31,500 people and infected nearly half a million in Western Europe, per the AP. Health Minister Olivier Veran visited an intensive care ward in the city, where doctors told him the next three weeks would be critical. Public hospital ICU units in the city are near full. “These measures aren’t about pointing the finger at Marseille,” Veran told reporters at the hospital. “We have to put a brake on the spread of the virus. The earlier we act, the shorter the time we’ll need to act for.” Local officials say earlier restrictions, including early closing hours for bars and a ban on student parties, were working and that the latest round of curbs was premature. “We’re in complete despair. When they shut us down, they humiliate us,” says restaurateur Bernard Marty. “This doesn’t just penalise the restaurateur behind the till. It’s an entire sector plunged into crisis: suppliers, event organizers, discotheques. Do they expect us to die in silence?”