French protest café smoking ban
Around 10,000 café owners and tobacconists marched through Paris today in protest at a smoking ban they fear will ruin their businesses.
They want the ban in all cafes, restaurants and nightclubs from January 1 changed to give them time to set up smoking rooms.
The protesters marched from the Montparnasse train station to the National Assembly, the lower chamber of parliament.
The demonstration was one of a handful this month against reforms by President Nicolas Sarkozy aimed at modernising France. However, the smoking ban was adopted before he took office in May.
The demonstrators insist the changes would respect the spirit of the decree.
Rene Le Pape, president of the Confederation of Tobacco Sellers, left a meeting yesterday with Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot disappointed and angry, saying there was a “total blockage".
Tobacconists fear they will lose clients if customers are unable to have a cigarette with their coffee. And they worry they will lose money on other products typically sold in “cafes tabac,” cafes where cigarettes can be bought.
Those opposed to the ban also fear for the survival of cafes in rural areas, often the only community gathering spot for miles around.
French authorities have been trying to wean the nation off cigarettes for years. A ban earlier this year on lighting up in workplaces, schools, airports, hospitals and other “closed and covered” public places like train stations forced France’s smokers outdoors – but not out of cafes.
