Laurent Nunez, the Paris police prefect, announced this Wednesday a series of measures and traffic restrictions applied during the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. QR Code to enter certain areas, traffic ban for cars and two -motorized wheels, etc. And, as was to be expected, they go badly.
Particularly among residents of these blue and red zones. Leaving the building where he resides on the Quai d’Orsay, Jean does not hide his annoyance at 20 minutes at the mention of the Games, “this great masquerade” in which he refuses to participate. “Their badge [le QR code] they can keep it. I leave Paris all summer to go to my house in Vendée,” adds the Parisian. If we understand that Jean’s decision was made before the announcement of the restrictions, he fumes when he learns that his home is in a so-called “blue” zone. As a result, he will have to present proof to be able to drive in his neighborhood: “And why not a clown nose while we’re at it?” Did they take us for animals raised in a battery or what? » And the opening ceremony which takes place on the Seine, a few dozen meters from its windows? Jean “doesn’t care” and doesn’t want to see her.
His neighbor, Gary, will be in Paris during the Olympics, “work requires”: “I am happy to experience such an event, and I understand that it requires such organization. But blocking the entire neighborhood a week before is still restrictive. » Driver of a scooter, Gary will also have to prove his address to enter his neighborhood. He once considered taking public transport, “but with the prices they prepare…”
“They still found a way to ruin our lives”
As for Victor, who manages a kitchen utensils store on Avenue de Suffren, he already imagines a black summer: “traffic will be closed throughout the Eiffel Tower area. Except that my clientele, mainly Asian, travel by bus. I’m not going to see anyone come through my door for two months.” “The advantage of the bus is that you can do all your shopping by putting it in the hold…”, says the shopkeeper, who can’t imagine tourists walking around with a pressure cooker under their arm.
Like him, Hervé plans to close shop for two months. Its wine cellar, Ampelos, is located a few steps from the Palais Bourbon, the Seine and a few streets from Les Invalides and Concorde, two Olympic sites. He is in the middle of the blue zone. “They have yet found a way to ruin our lives,” complains the wine merchant, according to whom “the Paris Olympics are not the Parisians’ Olympics.” Hervé’s clientele, both local and international, will not, according to him, resist the constraints imposed by the police headquarters: “And what about my suppliers? You know how difficult it is to get around in normal times for delivery people. With that, they will only increase traffic jams. »
Annick will not close during the Games… on the other hand, she will “pray” every day. Annick is the room manager of a restaurant located a few steps from the Champs-de-Mars, in the middle of the red zone. For her, hope lies in the tourists who came especially for the Games. Normally, a “large portion” of its clientele is made up of “often elderly” Parisians and Ile-de-France residents who come by car. So Annick can already imagine seeing reservations collapse at the idea of greedy seniors having to walk several hundred meters to reach the restaurant. “I hope that the flow of tourists generated by the Olympics will compensate,” she breathes, supporting the idea that the Olympics are moving further and further away from Parisians… and vice versa.