Every day, delivery trucks and crates of vegetables occupy the sidewalk. Traders wait for customers behind their scales and the shelves are stocked: onions, artichokes, strawberries, bananas… everything is there. Since 2020, an underground market settled around the roundabout of Place Marceau. It has grown in size and there are many customers. With the primeurs, cigarette dealers also settled there.
This traffic is of particular concern to local residents. Amin lives in the neighborhood, he regrets seeing so many people in front of the buildings “_they zone, they stroll_. You believe people can go home any way they want, that’s not right for the people in the building” he said.
There is an American and an English woman who were assaulted – Djamel, an owner on Place Marceau
The finding is even more bitter for Djamel. He doesn’t live here, but rents out his apartment to tourists. “They broke doors because they have to go and hide their fags” he tells us. The tenants of Djamel are also impacted. “There is an American and an Englishwoman who _were assaulted_. She left me a message to tell me that they had taken her wallet and a phone” he adds
Several residents and owners have contacted the Town Hall to put an end to this illegal market. “The only thing they did was offer them a license. We don’t want that, we want them to leave“laments Djamel.
The clandestine market of Place Marceau was born just after the first confinement. A vegetable seller had settled there, illegally, when outdoor businesses were privileged. It was, at that time, a way to curb the spread of the virus. Outdoor sales are good for the merchant. His business grew, his clientele too. Neighboring traders also took out their stalls to overflow onto the sidewalks. Djamel, who has seen the neighborhood evolve, adds worried “And after, what will it be, a point of deal? Since anyway it has become a lawless zone“.