The prefect of police in Paris spoke on Tuesday before the council of the capital, emphasizing the need to remove the green boxes during the international competition “for security reasons”.
The fate of the bouquinistes along the Seine seems almost sealed for the Olympic Games. Laurent Nunez, prefect of police in Paris, reiterated on Tuesday the “necessity” of removing the green boxes for the international competition.
“It is strictly necessary to impose this removal for security reasons,” he insisted before the council of Paris. Security stakes
These boxes, attached to the railing overlooking the banks of the Seine and containing used books, souvenirs, and other curiosities, are seen as a security issue for the opening ceremony of the Games, which will take place on the Seine next summer. 600 of them, out of the 900, will have to be dismantled and stored.
“These boxes are not installed uniformly, there are gaps. A dense crowd on the high banks would tend to gather in places where they can see the parade, and this would pose a number of crowd management difficulties,” Laurent Nunez assured.
“I fear that if we leave these boxes in a place where there will be hundreds of thousands of people, we will have extremely serious incidents,” he continued.
A meeting is scheduled for October 11th to test the relocation of the Parisian bouquinistes in real conditions.
