The third meeting organized on Monday, January 15, by the Paris Police Prefecture with representatives of City Hall and the booksellers known as bouquinistes took place in a rather tense atmosphere. The disagreement seems to be escalating between the Paris Police Prefect Laurent Nuñez and the vendors he intends to dislodge from the banks of the Seine during the Paris Olympic Games, which will run from July 26 to August 11. For months, the prefect has been invoking imperative security reasons to temporarily remove these green boxes from the banks famed Paris river.
At the meeting, it was agreed that the boxes would be removed over four nights, from July 14 to 17, and put back in place from July 29, again over four nights. But the main stumbling block remains. Neither City Hall nor the Prefecture intend to compensate the book and souvenir vendors, who will be unable to sell anything for at least two weeks.
According to Jérôme Callais, president of the Association Culturelle des Bouquinistes de Paris, Nuñez has indicated that he refuses to sign an order forcing the closure of the bouquinistes – the only way they can obtain financial compensation. Callais and the association's lawyer, Matthieu Chirez, partner at JP Karsenty & Associés, are considering taking the case to the administrative court.
Callais claimed that the prefect warned them that "if you don't take legal action against us, we'll only require the mounting and dismantling of 428 of the 932 boxes. That's 47% of them. But if you do, 604 boxes will be affected." This argument was, to say the least, "unpleasant," quipped Callais. The Prefecture gives a completely different version, stating that it has "agreed to give up certain areas that will not be open to the public (...), therefore saving more than 170 boxes. This means that 428 boxes will have to be removed and put back within a reasonable timeframe, to which the city has committed." These two versions are sufficiently at odds with each other to demonstrate the extent of the rift.
Pierre Rabadan, deputy mayor of Paris responsible for sport, the Olympic and Paralympic Games and the Seine, declined to make any statement after the meeting. "We've had a further piece piece of bad news," said Callais. "All the other booksellers will also be affected. If their boxes stay in place, they won't be able to work," he added.
Paris City Hall has once again suggested the creation of a book village, "which we absolutely don't want," said Callais. In the summer of 2023, this proposal to relocate the bouquinistes to Place de la Bastille or Boulevard Bourdon, in the 4th arrondissement, was the subject of a questionnaire given to the shopkeepers in question: 98% of respondents rejected the idea.
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