Angers town council is fed up with day and night over drinking behaviours and damages

Angers city, one of the places of the French wine producing sector, distances itself from alcoholic drinking. The town council has just published a regulation preventing the consumption of alcoholic beverages in down town from 10 h 00 to 19 h 00 every day for a year. The most interesting part of the measure lays in its origins. The municipal regulation, passed on October 22nd, is due to "gatherings more and more important of persons [in the streets] with an overconsumption of alcoholic beverages [which] causes troubles to public order : altercations, sound nuisances, miscellaneous disturbances, broken glasses and soilings".

According to the mayor's bylaw, "these disturbances around Romain square and the Republic district come often from overconsumption of alcohol and threatens public peacefulness". These could have something to do with homeless persons sat on the pavements and squares who drink alcoholic beverages to warm themselves up. The phenomena indicates the increasing impoverishment of a part of Angers (young) population.

Recently, Angers has launched an initiative towards students regarding their own safety with binge drinkings. A few weeks ago the Angers mayor, Frédéric Beatse, had announced he would implement repressive measures in case of the continuation of incivilities (some of them caused injuries). And, more recently, down town store owners have complained about the loss of attractiveness of down town because ot its lack of cleanliness. In April 2001, the former mayor had already banned sales of alcohol in down town after 22 h 00.