First French prisoner, senator test positive for coronavirus

A prisoner has tested positive for coronavirus in France, where many jails are overstretched, as well as a senator, officials said Saturday, describing them as the first such cases. Hundreds of anti-government "yellow vest" protesters meanwhile ignored official warnings against gatherings of more than 100 people and massed in central Paris for their 70th weekly protest, traditionally held on Saturdays.

A 74-year-old man tested positive in a jail in Fresnes, east of Paris. He has been placed in a solitary cell on March 8 and was taken to hospital on Friday, Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet's spokeswoman said. "When he arrived (in prison), he already had respiratory problems," said Jean-Christophe Petit, from the Fresnes prison.

A nurse had already tested positive at the prison but the justice ministry stressed there was no link between the two infections. The Fresnes jail houses 2,159 prisoners despite a capacity of 1,320. It has been feared that the virus could spread quickly through overcrowded prisons.

In southern Italy, new restrictions on visits by family members to prisoners sparked a riot in the southern city of Foggia, leading to 72 escaping. According to the latest count, there have been 3,661 COVID-19 cases in France and 79 deaths.

The senator infected was identified as Guylene Pantel, 56, but she was reported to be in good health. Brune Poirson, French Secretary of State the Minister for the Ecological and Inclusive Transition, also tested positive but "showed no worrying signs," her office said.

Police meanwhile said they had arrested 34 yellow vest protesters in the south of Paris on Saturday. Frederic Lagache, the director of the country's main police union Alliance, said he had "deep disgust" with the protesters.

"We knew they had no respect for the law, now they have shown they have no civility or sense of responsibility, by putting the community in danger," he said. The yellow vests protest movement, which accuses president Emmanuel Macron of ruling on behalf of an urban elite while ignoring poor people in the provinces and the countryside, began in November 2018 and often led to clashes between protesters and police..

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