The very chic Avenue Junot has probably never known such a police presence. This Monday afternoon, under the stunned gaze of tourists, a column of CRS came to dislodge the bowlers of Clap, resistant since early morning to the idea of evacuating their historic ground.
The epilogue of a standoff that has been going on for more than two years after the Paris town hall chose to entrust the management of this space to the neighboring private mansion. The luxury establishment must set up Le Jardin de Junot, a space adjoining its terrace presented as open to the public during the day and which it will use in the evening.
The bowlers took turns day and night to occupy the field
Installed on the last vestige of the classified maquis of Montmartre since 1971, the club of 300 members has always demanded the signing of an occupation agreement at the town hall which has never been followed up. Today, she argues that the Clap is an occupant without rights or title. Thus justifying such an evacuation operation.
For six months, bowlers from the oldest pétanque club in Paris had taken turns there day and night to prevent the evacuation. This was decided by a decision of the Council of State in April and postponed by the police headquarters after the Olympics and the grape harvest festival.
The police entered the site at 7:30 a.m., dislodging the three members who had slept there. They immediately raised the alarm and their comrades joined them in front of the gates of Avenue Junot early in the morning.
While a moving truck was being filled with their belongings, the members lay down on the track to peacefully prevent its departure. There were nearly 80 people that the CRS ended up dislodging in the middle of the afternoon.
This Monday evening, local residents still heard the deafening noise of the ongoing demolition of the clubhouse building which would be an integral part of the classification order for the Montmartre maquis. “They are destroying a site classified and protected since 1991 without a permit, without prior asbestos and lead diagnosis. The entire procedure should have taken 18 months! » points out Laurent Ostrowsky, president of the Junot-Lepic residents’ collective.
Nicolas Jammes, the president of Clap, announces that he will file a complaint: “What is shocking is to see public forces working for a private operator destroying a classified place. The director of the private mansion was able to enter the site and at noon he put up his banner to announce the future garden. »
Appeals are still being studied according to the two Clap lawyers, Clémentine Veltz and Margot Lecourt, present alongside the bowlers since the beginning of the morning: “We are not going to stop here and accept this expulsion. We will use all legal avenues available to us. »
