<img src="https://img.lemde.fr/2023/09/27/0/0/3333/5000/664/0/75/0/345c771_1695826104688-epa-10778801.jpg" srcset=" https://img.lemde.fr/2023/09/27/0/0/3333/5000/556/0/75/0/345c771_1695826104688-epa-10778801.jpg 556w, https://img.lemde.fr/2023/09/27/0/0/3333/5000/600/0/75/0/345c771_1695826104688-epa-10778801.jpg 600w, https://img.lemde.fr/2023/09/27/0/0/3333/5000/664/0/75/0/345c771_1695826104688-epa-10778801.jpg 664w, https://img.lemde.fr/2023/09/27/0/0/3333/5000/700/0/75/0/345c771_1695826104688-epa-10778801.jpg 700w, https://img.lemde.fr/2023/09/27/0/0/3333/5000/800/0/75/0/345c771_1695826104688-epa-10778801.jpg 800w" sizes="(min-width: 1024px) 556px, 100vw" alt="Albert Abid, on the Quai de la Tournelle, in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, on July 31, 2023. He is one of the many bouquinistes affected by the police prefecture's decision to close their " boxes"="" on="" the="" banks="" of="" seine."="" width="100%" height="auto">
On the Quai de la Tournelle along the Seine River in Paris, Albert Abid, a mustachioed bouquiniste (book vendor), chewed at the mouthpiece of a beautifully crafted pipe. Like his colleagues, he has not taken kindly to a situation he deems "problematic" and "unsolvable," since a rather abrupt letter was sent out by the Paris Prefecture of Police on July 25. It directed 170 of the 220 bouquinistes scattered along the banks of the Seine to move their bookstalls at least until the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, which will take place along the river on July 26, 2024. The official explanation is for security reasons.
Abid considers the argument to be fallacious. "Pff... The hidden reason is that we're blocking the view, I'm sure of it," he said. "But we're not the only ones in the way. There are trees too! Are we going to cut them down?" Dismantling and then reassembling the green boxes, some of which are over a century old and as fragile as fine china, would require such a degree of meticulousness that the operation seems "unfeasible" to him. "Or, it would be a massacre. A third of the boxes wouldn't survive," according to the vendor.
Even if the Préfecture's orders seem clear-cut and unquestionable, the bouquinistes, by nature rebellious and worried about their trade, are determined to resist. "We were told that we would have to move, without any consultation. They want to erase us from the landscape, even though we're one of the major symbols of Paris. It's mind-boggling," said Jérôme Callais, president of the Cultural Association of Paris Bouquinistes. "But there's a much simpler solution: Call in the bomb squad before the [opening] ceremony, seal the boxes and reopen them immediately afterward. It's economical, eco-friendly, reasonable!"
Their fight has not gone unnoticed. Unable to justify why the Seine's quays should be stripped in such a manner, Parisians are galvanizing around the issue with an online petition with over 143,000 signatures entitled "Sauvegarde des Bouquinistes des Quais de la Seine" ("Protect the Bouquinistes of the Quays of the Seine") and a joint letter by intellectuals published in Le Monde. The momentum could make Callais optimistic, except that he has not heard much from the Préfecture. "On August 8, I had an appointment with a Préfecture official who wanted to know how our boxes worked. He wrote a note and that was that," he lamented.
But above all, he is angry with the Mairie de Paris (Paris City Hall) and does not quite understand what it is up to: "I find it hard to believe [Paris Mayor] Anne Hidalgo when she says publicly that she adores the bouquinistes. She's not sticking up for us at all." On July 10, an informational meeting was held at the city hall. Anxious not to incur the wrath of an eminently Parisian trade, the municipality adopted a flexible stance, to the point of submitting a questionnaire to the bouquinistes offering them several options, including keeping their boxes. "That day, we didn't imagine moving," said Callais. "We just had to agree on how to protect our boxes during the [opening] ceremony."
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