French Take Their Apéros to the Streets, Testing Lockdown Limits

PARIS — Annoyed at their government, the French have taken to the streets brandishing drinks.

With bars still closed despite the loosening of France’s coronavirus lockdown, the pre-dinner drinking tradition of the apéro has given way to the apérue: clusters of revelers on the streets, or rues, of Paris, outside establishments that are allowed to offer takeout.

“They’re forcing us to do infantile things all the time,” said Frédérick Cassea, who was having drinks with two friends in front of Le Syndicat, a bar in the 10th arrondissement.

“We’re all adults, we’re all responsible, we’re all aware of what’s going on,’’ Mr. Cassea added, describing the apérue and other acts of “civil disobedience” as a reaction to the government’s “catastrophic” handling of the epidemic. “Treating us like kids doesn’t work for long.”

France is emerging from one of the world’s strictest lockdowns, two months during which people had to fill out paperwork just to step out of their homes. But as restrictions remain, the French are now testing the limits of what the government will allow, in a continuing cat-and-mouse game that speaks to an unusually personal and emotional relationship between the individual and the state.

On Thursday, the government said that France’s initial reopening had gone better than expected and announced further measures to take effect in the coming days.

Secondary school students will head back to the classroom in most of the country. Parks and beaches will be reopened nationwide. People, now restricted to a radius of 100 kilometers — about 60 miles — from their homes will be able to travel freely again.

But the government remained cautious, especially in reopening Paris, the area hardest hit by the virus. Restaurants, cafes and bars will be able to serve customers only on terraces. Swimming pools, sports facilities, concert halls and theaters will not reopen until the third week of June. Nationwide, gatherings of 10 people at a time and group sports will also remain prohibited until then. The government also urged people to keep working at home.

In recent days across the country, amid expectations that the government would ease the rules, a growing number of people were already staring to ignore of them. In Marseille, beachgoers illegally dipped into the Mediterranean Sea, while in Strasbourg a crowd of some 300 supporters gathered around a soccer field on Sunday to watch a game.