The Paris police chief, Laurent Nuñez, on Wednesday proposed to the organizers of a parade of camelids planned for Saturday around the Eiffel Tower to go to the Parisian woods of Vincennes or Boulogne, more suitable
AFP PHOTO / JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER
The French Federation for the Development of Camelids in France and Europe had planned to parade around fifty dromedaries, camels, llamas and alpacas on Saturday from the banks of the Seine to UNESCO headquarters, passing in front of the Eiffel Tower and the Invalides, so many sites in the very chic 7th arrondissement of the capital.
“The parade may be held this April 20, 2024 in the Bois de Vincennes with a gathering at 12:00 p.m. on the esplanade of the Château de Vincennes, a departure of the procession at 2:00 p.m.”, indicates the prefectural decree, and a possible “stroll” in specific avenues until 6:00 p.m.
Contacted by AFP, the organizer of this demonstration, Christian Schoettl, assured that he had filed an urgent appeal with the Paris administrative court.
“I told the Prefect of Police that we were not organizing a picnic, that moving 34 foreign delegations and 50 camels was colossal logistics”, particularly for “the safety of the animals”, castigates the mayor of Janvry (Essonne), for whom it is “impossible” to organize the demonstration in the Bois de Vincennes in such a short time.
To justify the ban around the Eiffel Tower, the police prefect, Laurent Nuñez, cited an area, the Champ-de-Mars, “affected by infrastructure assembly sites” in view of the Olympic Games and “the significant consequences on traffic” in this tourist location.
The prefecture also ensures in its decree that this environment with “such high urban density (…) is likely to harm animal welfare”.
It also evokes security issues, with an initial route near public buildings, in a context of “hardening of the Vigipirate posture” since the “claim of responsibility for the Moscow attack by the Islamic State organization”.
The announcement of this parade sparked the animal rights association Paris Animaux Zoopolis, which denounced in a press release the use of these animals as “objects of entertainment” and “vulgar food resources”.
For his part, Christian Schoettl explained to AFP on Tuesday that this parade aimed to support “the cause of the camel in the French capital of human rights”.
According to this mayor of Essonne, “the police headquarters gave in to the demands of the mayor of the 7th arrondissement” Rachida Dati, current Minister of Culture.
“She doesn’t want camels in the 7th,” he denounces.
Contacted by AFP, Ms. Dati’s entourage confirmed that the town hall of the 7th arrondissement had issued an “unfavorable opinion”, as it says it does regarding “events on the Champ-de-Mars and the direct surroundings” in order to to preserve this green space from “overexploitation”.
“The Champ-de-Mars and the surrounding area are already impacted by the installation of installations for the Olympic Games,” also argues the entourage.
