“Together with the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame, buquinistas they are one of the greats symbols of paris“The historian Jean-Yves Mollier has no doubts about the value of these libraries in the area. banks of the seine. This professor emeritus at the University of Versailles and a publishing history expert recalls, “They evoke the oldest Paris, as they are heirs to the bookstores under Paris bridges since the 16th century.” They appear in movies, photos, or recently in tourist selfies. Small green shops, visitors or flâneurs (walkers) Alone in the heart of the French capital.
But this iconic place may miss an appointment marked red on the calendar next year. France: Olympic Games. At the end of July, the buquinistas received a letter from the Paris police. your release in the summer of next year. They will force the green wood shops to close and remove them from the banks of the Seine.at least two weeks“. Reason? Reasons security because of terrorist threat At the opening ceremony of the Games, scheduled for July 26, 2024.
For the first time in Olympic history, the kick-off will take place outdoors, not on a sports field. It will be given to the athletes river walk through the middle of the capital. An assertive action has already claimed its first secondary victim: buquinistas who are not indifferent to such a decision.
most affected
“This decision seems silly to me because these stores represent the image of Paris,” said Charles Gedor, 63, who has worked as a buquinista for over two decades and recently attended a meeting with the Paris city council. “The terrorist threat argument seems silly to me. There are many other ways to attack“Philippe Legendre, 56, who sells a second-hand bookshop right next door to the Louvre,” adds. “They actually want to drive us because we’re going to block the view of the monuments during the Olympic parade.” a measure that It will affect 600 out of 950 buquinistas There are also Paris – Lyon and Nantes.
In 1859, because the authorities forced these bookstores to settle in a fixed place, its presence has been permanent alongside the banks of the Seine. They even continued in the same place in both world wars. But with the Games they were able to evacuate them for the first time. Paris City Council promised them that this would only be temporary, and will finance the transfer of stores and their eventual regeneration if damaged. An understatement for Buquinistas.
“They will not be able to withstand the financial shock”
“The thing that bothers me the most is the uncertainty that exists. We don’t know how long the quarantine will last.One of the youngest of these vendors, 30-year-old Amel Baguira, who runs a store specializing in botanical books, complains. “I’m afraid it will take much longer than two weeks. It would take at least 2-3 months if they had to close all the stores and move them from their site. In that case I’m afraid many bookstores will not be able to withstand the financial shock. And for the time being, they haven’t announced any compensation to make up for it,” says Gedor.
This decision angered not only those most affected, but also parts of French society. Historian Mollier criticizes, “It’s as if they took one of its main monuments out of the capital during the Games.” Philosopher Edgar Morin, essayist Pascal Bruckner, or historians Michelle Perrot and Mona Ozouf denounced it. “gloomy decision” Against “the world’s largest open-air bookshop and one of the most romantic promenades in Paris” in a collective article published in the newspaper Le Monde. Since the end of July, nearly 90,000 signatures have been collected on the Change.org platform to support these booksellers.
“I have German friends who have signed up. We hope that public pressure will force the authorities to step back,” Legendre says of a measure that keeps the rivers ink flowing in France despite (or rather thanks to) the informative summer complacency. .