Paris Olympics: Seine booksellers furious over order to move

Open-air booksellers along the banks of the Seine reacted angrily to local authorities informing them they pose a security threat for the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics and that their stands will have to be removed for the sporting spectacle.

The main thrust of the threat, according to police, pertains to the games' July 26 opening ceremonies, which for the first time will be staged outside a stadium.

Some 600,000 people are expected to attend the ceremony and police informed booksellers in a letter that those inside a so-called perimeter of protection would have to be removed for "obvious security reasons."

The French government says it will deploy 35,000 police and military for the public ceremony.

Some 570 of the famous stalls — roughly 60% — will be affected. 

‘We've been here for 450 years!' says president of booksellers' association

"People come to see us like they come to see the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame, [but] they want to hide us during a ceremony that is supposed to represent Paris," said Jerome Callais, president of the Paris booksellers' association.

Callais said most booksellers had, "no intention of moving," exclaiming: "We're a symbol of Paris. We've been here for 450 years."

With a total length of three kilometers (1.86 miles), booksellers' green wooden boxes comprise Europe's largest open-air book market, with second-hand book and art booths extending from Pont Marie to Quai du Louvre on the Right Bank, and from Quai de la Tournelle to Quai Voltaire on the Left Bank.

City authorities say they will pay to have the booths, which are affixed to railings along the river, removed and later reinstalled, as well as covering the cost of "renovation" for any damage that may occur during that process.

Booksellers say historic stalls are too fragile to move

The banks where the stalls are installed were declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1991, and the booksellers are seeking "intangible cultural heritage" status, something city authorities say would be aided by the renovations being offered.

Still, booksellers are unhappy as they worry their stalls may be damaged.

"They are very fragile… our stalls will not be able to withstand this operation, nor will the morale of the booksellers," said Albert Abid, who has been selling books out of a 100-year-old stall for more than 10 years.

Association President Callais agrees, and estimates the total cost of such renovations would cost roughly €1.5 milion ($1.66 million).

He also scoffed at the city's plan to offer set up shop at an alternative venue in a "literary neighborhood near the Siene for the duration of the games," saying of the proposed site for a "bookseller village" at Place de la Bastille — "no one is going to go to that market."

js/jcg (AFP, SID, Reuters)