Paris, Dec 15 (AP) Thousands of people working in the French theater and cinema industries demonstrated in Paris on Tuesday against the prolonged closure of entertainment facilities amid the coronavirus pandemic.

France earlier Tuesday lifted a partial lockdown imposed on October 30, but will still maintain strict measures at least until January 7, including a curfew from 8 pm to 6 am, as numbers of infections remain high.

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Theatres, cinemas and other performance halls, together with bars and restaurants, will remain shut over the holidays.

Workers in the cultural sector gathered at Place de La Bastille, in front of the modern opera house that has been closed for weeks.

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Among them, Veronique Bellin, deputy director of the new theatre of Montreuil in the eastern suburbs of Paris, said health measures had been in place before the lockdown to protect spectators.

"Today we see that the government accepts that churches reopen, and these are the exact same conditions, but people can't go to the theater or cinema. We don't understand,” she said.

The government announced last week a 35-million euro (USD 42 million) additional support package for the cultural sector.

Yet protesters expressed fears that many jobs won't survive the crisis.

Stage set designer Thibault Sinay said: “We hear about big money being announced but, for theatre productions and creations, we don't see any money coming. It's really hard for us.”

It is the second time French theatres and cinemas have been closed down to slow the spread of COVID-19.

They were shut from March to June, during the first lockdown.

Health authorities said they registered over 10,000 new confirmed daily infections last week. On Monday, they reported 372 deaths from COVID-19 in hospitals, bringing the country's overall death toll to more than 58,000.(AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)