A violent Paris risks being deserted by tourists

A bus full of tourists being attacked by rioters in Paris

If you had been a tourist in Paris yesterday you would most likely have come into contact with an anti-gay marriage demonstration. It was attended by anything from 150,000 to one million people, depending on whose figures you believe, and you may also have been unlucky enough to witness the violence which followed it.

The demonstrators arrived in downtown Paris just after lunch from four different directions, and although the bulk of the demonstration passed off without major trouble, over 100 people were arrested for public disorder-related offences. But after the demonstrators had dispersed a group of several hundred extremists stayed on and attacked journalists and riot police. Paris looked more like a war zone than a peacetime city (images and videos here.) Sporadic incidents continued here and there in the streets for hours before things finally quietened down. There had been 350 arrests in all and 36 people, almost all of them police, had been injured.

This was not an isolated event. Yesterday's demonstration was only the latest in a series of similar ones this year, all of which have led to various degrees of violence, looting and the destruction of property, and there were similar scenes during the 'celebration' earlier this month by fans of the Paris St-Germain football team to mark their winning campaign in the French league. Rioters attacked shops and people and in one instance the looting of a bus full of Japonese tourists was filmed. It makes chilling viewing.

Another worrying phenomenon in today's Paris is the proliferation of organised crime in the form of gangs of pickpockets and violent thieves who threaten tourists and force them to hand over their money, cameras and other objects of value. They operate all over the city centre, in shops, bars, tourist sites, public transport (the Metro in particular), hotels and elsewhere, and things have become so serious that security personnel at the Louvre went on strike recently to protest the lack of government measures to combat these bands, which even operate within the museum itself. In one well-publicised incident, an aide to Bill Clinton, who was visiting Paris, was robbed of cash whilst using a cash distributor.

Finally, there are regular instances of running battles involving members of rival gangs who come downtown from the suburbs to slug it out. Shopkeepers in Les Halles in particular have witnessed several of these battles and gone on resignedly to clear up their smashed shop fronts afterwards.

No wonder then that alarm bells have started ringing. Police are trying to step up patrols but are hampered by a lack of manpower, and foreign embassies are issuing advice to tourists and warning them to be vigilant. The Chinese embassy went one step further and lodged an official complaint against Parisian authorities, whom they accuse of not doing enough to protect Chinese tourists from aggression.

All of this is also penalising businesses, which is why a representative of up-market retailers recently reminded the authorities of their obligation to protect tourists. "Paris is becoming hell for tourists in terms of personal safety" he said. Another representative said that "[Paris has] a catastrophic image."

Authorities, hotels and businesses, both Parisian and national politicians, and now the press, France is finally waking up to the reality of a capital city which is in danger of being considered by tourists to be a place to avoid, and they are demanding that something be done about it.

They are quite right to do so. After all, Paris is France's window on the world. Most of them consider that if something isn't done to improve the situation soon the result will be a worsening reputation, falling tourist numbers, falling revenue, and yet another dent to French national pride, which has already taken enough hits as it is.

Let's hope that something is done to turn the tide, and quickly.

To let, Paris. Studio appt - size 1.56m², rent €330 per month

A mother and child's 4m² apartment. (Photo - Facebook-Fondation Abbé Pierre

Paris, like many other major world capitals, has long been known for its housing penury and the high rents for small apartments which result from the laws of supply and demand, but two recent news stories have brought to light just how serious the situation has become as well as just how little the authorities seem to be doing about it.

We learned a few days ago that 'Dominique', a 50-year-old man with a low income, lived in Paris for 15 years in an 'apartment' measuring 1.56m², which is about the floor area of a good-sized dog kennel. The miniscule room was under the roof so he could only stand upright within a narrow 20-centimetre strip. Dominique was charged €330 in rent per month.

That story was followed up yesterday with another, similar one, that of a mother in her thirties who paid €200 per month for a cubbyhole of 4m² in which she lived with her small child, again, in Paris.

That this kind of thing should be allowed to happen in the first place in a country which (erroneously as it happens) proudly proclaims itself to be 'the country of Human Rights' is scandalous enough, but worse still is what the authorities did, or rather didn't, do about it.

The degrading housing conditions of both of these people had been known for many months by the Abbé Pierre Foundation, which fights for improved housing rights for the disadvantaged, and both of their cases were brought to the attention of the relevant authorities by the Foundation. But the authorities did nothing for over six months, despite the obvious urgency of the victims' circumstances.

In Dominique's case the authorities only took action very recently to remove Dominique from his lodgings and have them padlocked, with the owner being barred from entering, and it also emerged that three different private flatsearch agencies had rented the 1.56m² space over a long period, thus flouting a law which fixes the legal minimum for a housing unit at 9m², without housing authorities being aware of it. Dominique has been rehoused.

The case of the woman and child was even worse. She had financial difficulties which had led her to fall three months behind with her rent, and as a result the owner changed the lock on the door while she was out and put her meager belongings into plastic bags which she left in a corridor in the building before sending a text message to her tenant to inform her of what she had done. This broke almost every rule in the book, which obliges owners to send warning letters and obtain court permission to evict tenants. Also, she is theoretically liable for 'endangering life' and renting lodgings which are 'incompatible with human dignity'. Not only that, she evicted the tenant just recently, which means that she has also fallen foul of a law which forbids evictions during the cold winter months.

Many people, including myself, lived for a while in Paris (London too, in my case) during their early adulthood because of these cities' bustling lifestyle and opportunities, which young people often crave. And, like most of the others, I didn't earn much money so I had to content myself with about 10 or 12m². It wasn't The Ritz, sure, but there was room for a bed, a table, a small hi-fi system and an armchair or two. It was all part of the  growing up game. Nevertheless, although I gladly accepted those conditions in exchange for a chance to live in these cities I just cannot imagine how degrading and soul-destroying it must be to live in 4m², never mind less than 2m².

And it's not only a question of size, it's also a question of extortionate rent. As a comparison, I live in a high-ceilinged apartment of about 90m² near Lyon's city centre. It has a marble fireplace, wooden parquet floors and all mod-cons. Price? In the upper €400s per month. In other words I pay a rate of just over €5 per square metre. The lady with her baby though, was paying €50 per square metre, Dominique was actually paying a staggering €200 per square meter, and it's probably safe to say that they both earn rather less than many people.

High rents and small apartments are an inevitable part of living in a much sought after capital city for many people, but the almost inhuman conditions in which these two people found themselves does no credit to the Paris authorities. They should be forced by law to react immediately in cases such as these and they should also be able to circumvent the long wait for court proceedings which are characteristic of courts not only in France but elsewhere, in order to bring offenders to justice quickly.

This legislation is needed urgently because each day spent waiting for it to be drawn up and enacted is a day on which the poor of Paris will continue to be subjected to this kind of abuse because, as Dominique says, they have no choice. After all;

"It's either that or the street."

Coffee and Cognac in Paris

I had an hour to kill before catching the TGV back to Lyon from Paris, so I sat down on a café terrace opposite the Gare de Lyon and ordered a coffee and a cognac. Bliss. It's as if they were created to be drunk together.....
A votre santé !