In the heart of Paris and under the eyes of the world prospers at the foot of the Eiffel Tower a court of miracles that the authorities seem to have given up on eradicating. Faced with complaints from local residents, district town halls, City Hall and the prefecture pass the buck… Only delinquents score points.
On the lawn of the Champ-de-Mars, a drunk North African, in his twenties, muscular torso, circulates between the tourists, spitting invectives. A fight breaks out with a dozen Englishmen. Blows rain down, beer bottles fly. A woman in her sixties suffered a head injury. Around, the crowd, flabbergasted, oscillates between curious and frightened looks. A few days earlier, in the same place, a thief snatched his watch from a local resident with a hammer… Ordinary scenes, it seems.
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Two years after the pandemic, the Eiffel Tower has found its admirers. Each year, they are 7 million to visit it, 21 million to tread the surrounding lawns. From a distance, the monument imposes its beauty. Up close, another spectacle unfolds. The postcard has turned. “The situation is deteriorating”, alert the inhabitants of the district. “It’s a disaster area, the court of miracles,” adds Philippe Goujon, mayor of the 15th arrondissement. “Delinquency has exploded”, continues a representative of the Alliance police union. According to agents, dozens of assaults – up to a hundred! – would be reported daily in the Eiffel Tower – Trocadéro – Champ-de-Mars area. Pursue robberies, robberies with violence or trickery… Few lead to complaints, the victims being often strangers, shocked and ill-informed.
He throws dozens of bottles at the English who have just given him a lesson. A Paris City Hall security van will stop. Briefly.
© Alvaro Canovas / Paris Match
Annie* is desperate: “It’s more dangerous than in Barbès”, she complains. Behind the smile of facade, the saleswoman of ice cream hides her concern badly. She denounces an “unhealthy, violent” place. Between delinquents, competition has become fierce. Fights are frequent. To each his own perimeter, beware of those who encroach on the other. Annie knows their trick. A couple of Roma pickpockets walk past her. Pakistani and Bangladeshi street vendors roam the aisles with water, beers, wines, sparkling wines and even kebabs. They hide their stocks in sewers, bushes. At the end of the Jena bridge, tuk-tuks: 30 euros for Concorde, just 2 kilometers away, and 70 euros for Montmartre. Almost no driver has the authorization to transport passengers, nor the insurance that goes with it. One family climbs aboard, another buys discount Eiffel Towers and a copy of a luxury bag. Some 200 illegal traders are busy. Most are illegal, all are exploited by Senegalese and Malian criminal networks for a miserable monthly salary: 200 euros for fifteen hours of work a day. When a police patrol arrives, they scamper off… and reappear just as dry. “Their personal situation is terrible,” admits Annie. But for us, it’s an injustice, unfair competition. We cannot sell alcohol, because it is forbidden to consume it on the public highway, yet they are allowed to do so. The first victims are the tourists, ripped off on one side, looted on the other! »
Collateral victim of the fight, this woman, injured by a jet of bottle, is treated by the English.
© Alvaro Canovas / Paris Match
In the realm of crooks, cap players are kings. At the foot of the Eiffel Tower, a dozen “tables” operate as far as the Trocadéro esplanade. The principle ? Whoever finds the ball under the cup pockets the tickets. In reality, a scam organized by mafia networks, Roma family clans from the former Yugoslavia and Moldova. Around the “bonneteur”, the one who holds the game, between five and ten “barons”, men and women responsible for luring customers by passing themselves off as gamblers, keeping watch – two surveillance departments check – and to calm the bad losers manu militari. The accomplices, melted into the crowd, change pace every day. Seated on the terraces, the “managers” collect the receipts. “If a tourist wins, he will be stripped further, says an investigator. In this game, you are never a winner. The entry ticket is 50 euros and each table can bring in up to 1,000 euros per hour. In full view of everyone, this SME brings in 3,500 euros every day, and up to 15,000 euros during peak times! “With the disappearance of Asian tourists, including the Chinese, very gamblers, their turnover has decreased, tempers our source. But they continue to lay down the law and collect fortunes. »
Disillusioned, the police watch the rounds of small traffic. Garbage cans full to the brim that scratch the image of romantic Paris… Here, street vendors of alcohol, an offense punishable by six months in prison and a fine of 3750 euros
© Alvaro Canovas / Paris Match
To the scammers is added another phenomenon, which has appeared in recent months on the lawns of the Trocadéro: unaccompanied minors in rags. Brains weighed down by drugs, puny faces damaged by a miserable daily life, they track down cash, gold and cell phones. A life of wandering and nothing to lose. They would be up to sixty, mostly Moroccans. “In April, during Ramadan, they joined relatives in Spain and the Netherlands, reports a representative of the police union Alliance. Crime then decreased. But they came back in early May. Always unpredictable, insulting, aggressive, some armed with knives, which makes operations delicate. A band of about thirty individuals terrorized the neighborhood; the youngest is 7 years old. During the day, they rob passers-by; at night, they vandalize businesses, targeting grocery stores and pharmacies. Annie is not calm: “They break public lights. When I finish at midnight, I’m afraid to walk to my car. “Shops have hired security guards. The manager of a brasserie on the avenue de La Bourdonnais, pointed with a weapon, gets carried away: “It is shameful to leave this place in this state. We are constantly on the alert, never serene. On weekends, it’s worse with the bands from the estates arriving. Before, they went to the Champs-Elysées! »
Garbage cans full to the brim that scratch the image of romantic Paris…
© Alvaro Canovas / Paris Match
Sunday, at dawn. The landscape is distressing: the ground is strewn with dead bottles, the containers are overflowing with rubbish, garbage cans have been ripped open by rats and crows, groves are soiled with excrement and toilet paper. In the 7th arrondissement, fifteen agents are assigned to the cleanliness of the site. In fact, only three are operational, the others have been absent for months for “long-term illness” and “Covid”, forcing elected officials to find emergency solutions and Parisians to organize cleaning campaigns, like the one launched by the Friends of the Champ-de-Mars association. At its head, Jean d’Izarny-Gargas, a retired resident. He criticizes, among other things, the topography of the place. Since 2018, a bulletproof glass enclosure, erected against terrorist attacks, protects the iron monster and delimits the area managed by the Sete (Eiffel Tower Operating Company), inside which visitors are safe. Outside, climate change… “This enclosure concentrates the nuisances close to the dwellings, creating a feeling of permanent insecurity”, deplores Jean.
Square meadow. Two men come to dislodge a singer and a photographer to set up their little scam.
© Alvaro Canovas / Paris Match
Other aggravating factors according to Jean-Sébastien Baschet, member of the association and former candidate for municipal elections: mass tourism and the many events. “Space is fully monetized. The events have multiplied: more than 160 days of occupation per year. This overload of the frequentation leads to a degradation of the site. Lawns are destroyed, broken street furniture is not replaced. Until recently, the toilets were cleaned only once a week… Do you realize, it’s terrible! Many have the impression that the well-being of residents and walkers is sacrificed to tourist and commercial interests. “Rachida Dati, city councilor of the 7th arrondissement, very critical of the management of the premises, wants in particular to install a fence around the Champ-de-Mars, prohibiting its access at night to “fight against trafficking” and the increase in violence. On this point, opinions differ. Like the residents, she also calls for police reinforcements. Jean-François Martins, president of Sete, insists: “It’s a turf war, we will only get out of it if the police, who are permanently present, reclaim the premises. »
The market for miniature Eiffel towers, whose sellers are exploited by networks.
© Alvaro Canovas / Paris Match
So far, the fight seems unequal: the police remain stranded. “We do what we can with the means at hand, we are told. It would be necessary to recruit a hundred civil servants, the crews move in two instead of three or four. Of the twenty personnel of the territorial contact brigade [BTC] affiliated to the zone, twelve, discouraged by the working conditions, asked to be transferred. None have been replaced. “When they find themselves in threes, sheepish, in front of fifty clandestine sellers, what do they do? storm another. Nothing ! Imagine the municipal police… Unarmed, out of their prerogatives, they have no right to arrest them. They find themselves helpless, feel ridiculous, helpless in the face of delinquents. And justice does not follow. »
Folding a network is complex. We need investigators, flagrante delicto, complaints, which is rare. “When they are arrested, accuses an agent, the individuals are released a few hours later. They taunt us by saying “see you soon”! The police, like the authorities, are completely overwhelmed…” The municipal councilors swear that they hear the accusations and understand the anger. For two months, police operations have doubled, twice a week instead of one. “We must strengthen coordination between the national police, the municipal police and the prosecution. We are going to meet quickly to coordinate our actions and manage this security issue, ”repeats Nicolas Nordman, deputy in charge of prevention, victim assistance, security and municipal police. In 2024, the Olympic Games are coming… Residents, shopkeepers and police fear the worst.
* The first name has been changed.