Outcry over packed Easter service at Paris church
French church leaders and the government expressed indignation Tuesday after images showed a major church in Paris holding a packed Easter service, with few masks worn and without social distancing in defiance of Covid-19 restrictions.
The outcry over the service at the Saint-Eugene-Sainte-Cecile church comes on the heels of an explosive television report on secret high-end restaurants were operating in the French capital despite the rules.
Paris prosecutors told AFP that an investigation had been opened into accusations of putting the lives of others at risk over the religious service.
The newspaper Le Parisien published a video of the church service showing worshippers packed together, masks not being worn and priests directly placing communion wafers into the mouth of the faithful.
It said the service had lasted four hours.
"It is clearly absolutely unacceptable," deputy interior minister Marlene Schiappa told Franceinfo radio.
Karine Dalle, spokeswoman for the diocese of Paris, said it was "stunned" by the lack of social distancing at the service and said it distanced itself from "such disrespectful behaviour".
"Unfortunately, the videos are not open to question. We see a...