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GLANCE

Marseille to get major makeover with city centre to be pedestrianised

Marseille is about to get a major makeover, with swathes of the Mediterranean city’s centre and port area to be pedestrianised and hundreds of trees planted.

Published: 11 March 2019 15:23 CET
Marseille to get major makeover with city centre to be pedestrianised
The Vieux-Port area of Marseille. Photo: AFP

The lower part of the famed Canebière high street – which sweeps down from near the main train station to the sea at the Vieux-Port – will be off limits to cars along with a total of 72 hectares of streets and open spaces.

The three-year project was officially launched late last week and will cost a total of €60 million. Its first phase, which includes the pedestrianisation of the Canebière, is due to be completed this summer.

Map showing areas to be pedestrianised. Image: madeinmarseille.net

The aim of the project is to increase visitor numbers in the city centre, boost sales in local shops, and generally improve the experience of wandering about the downtown area.

“The image of the city centre has deteriorated over time,” said Martine Vassal, president of the greater Marseille area.

“There has been disenchantment with the city centre and it is very worrying that France’s second city does not have the attraction that it deserves. Our goal is that to boost frequentation of the shops and to ensure that locals can live there in security,” she told the Made in Marseille website.

Marseille has long suffered from a reputation for dirtiness, gang crime, and urban deprivation but has to some extent managed to shake off that image, and in recent years has opened a strong of new museums and arts centres and redeveloped its waterfront.

READ ALSO: Marseille – a must-visit or murder capital of France

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WEATHER

IN PICTURES: French town hit by freak June hailstorm

A French town has been hit by a freak hailstorm that left locals clearing drifts of ice in the streets with shovels and snow ploughs.

Published: 29 June 2021 16:44 CEST
IN PICTURES: French town hit by freak June hailstorm
Photo: Sapeurs-pompiers des Vosges

The hail struck the town of Plombières-les-Bains in the Vosges mountains on Tuesday morning.

Romain Munier, head of communications for the local emergency services, told French media: “There were up to 60 centimetres of accumulated hail” while in the wider area, “up to 10 millimetres of water accumulated in six minutes”.

https://twitter.com/timbaland57/status/1409881345741012994

Locals were pictured clearing the street of ice with shovels and snow ploughs after the storm passed and the fire and rescue crews for the Vosges area said they had received 56 callouts in total.

Large areas of France are on weather alert for storms until Thursday, as a ‘cold drop’ passes over the country leading to extremely unsettled weather.

In most areas, however, the storms will be confined to heavy rain and thunder.

In neighbouring Switzerland, the Swiss news agency ATS reported giant hailstones up to seven centimetres wide in the canton of Lucerne.

In the canton of Fribourg, the police and fire brigade were called 300 times, including to rescue a class of 16 children and two adults caught in the hail.

Six of the children and one adult were taken to hospital.

At least five people were injured in the German-speaking Swiss cantons, including a cyclist who suffered head injuries from hailstones, according to ATS, whilst in Germany severe flooding has hit parts of the country including Stuttgart.

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