Paris 2024 Olympic Games: “They just have to throw peanuts at us”, “The feeling of being locked in”… Parisians annoyed by the preparations

Les barrières se multiplient à l'approche des Jeux. MAXPPP – Vincent Isore

Des grands grillages quadrillent le quai, le pont est fermé à la circulation automobile, des ouvriers s'activent: sur l'île Saint-Louis, les riverains vivent au rythme des préparatifs de la cérémonie d'ouverture des Jeux olympiques, entre agacement et résignation.

"We have the impression of being locked in", denounces Aissa Yago, resident of the island (4th arrondissement) located in the heart of Paris, chatting in front of a bar with a friend, a barrier a few centimeters from their face. "It's going to be the planet of the apes. All they have to do is throw peanuts at us, criticizes this fifty-year-old.

"This morning, there was a traffic jam, it's a bit like Fellini, people were arguing' ;quot;, continues Mr. Yago, met this Tuesday. On the Quai de Béthune not far away, an angry motorist asks the police for directions, creating a small concert of horns. "It feels a bit like an Asterix village, a little stuck everywhere", confides Rodolphe Dematini, a little white dog on a leash.

He, who lives nearby, in the 5th arrondissement, philosopher: "We have to do something for the Olympic Games, it's once every 100 years". "It'll be well done, it'll be pretty", the 56-year-old wants to believe.

"People who grumble"

 "I'm not one of the people who grumbles all the time", adds Katia, who also lives in the 5th arrondissement and often crosses the island of Saint-Louis.

On the other side of the Seine, on the Quai de la Tournelle, the stands for the opening ceremony on July 26 have already been installed. The organizers promise a river spectacle on the Seine where "the city will become the living backdrop for an exceptional moment", over 6 km. From Thursday, security perimeters will be activated and Île Saint-Louis will be made inaccessible without presentation of a "Games Pass" with QR code.

If some local residents have obtained their pass, Aissa Yago claims not to have received it despite a request. Simon, a merchant on the island, 'understands' security measures. "But eight days without possible access to tourists walking around, I find that it's a bit hard".

Instead of the "party" promised, regrets the young man, "all we see for the moment is a loss of figures of' business". To explain this low tourist attendance, he also specifies that "Île Saint-Louis, it works in the sun& quot;, who has been discreet since the start of the summer. Ramsey Opp, New Yorker, has just arrived in Paris and discovers the preparations while walking on the island.

"I live in New York where it's much louder, busier, and messier and there is more construction& quot;, says the 30-year-old young man.

"A disaster"

 But for many residents and merchants of Île Saint-Louis, a historic and chic district of the capital, the cup is full. "The whole month of July, we didn't work, it's a disaster", comments a café manager, in front of his empty bar.

"The people on the island said "we're leaving because we don't want to not be there for the Games", the shopkeeper said, claiming that there are “very few tourists”. On Friday, the deputy for commerce at Paris City Hall, Nicolas Bonnet-Oulaldj, said he “hears the anger” of shopkeepers in the heart of the capital, who have seen some of the 44,000 barriers spring up in recent days to secure the Olympics. Bertrand Halff, 83, would leave the island “immediately” if he could, with the Olympic Games (July 26-August 11) fast approaching.

“I have a disabled daughter, we have to stay for her.” Marie-Christine Goux, a resident of the 15th arrondissement, likes to come and sit on a bench and watch the Seine. That morning, it is inaccessible. “I had a friend who was living there, a homeless person, he disappeared”, she said.

For months, associations have been warning about the “social cleansing” in the capital and the expulsions of homeless people from Paris. “We continue to carry out operations to shelter people who are on the streets”, regional prefect Marc Guillaume defended himself on France Bleu on Monday. “I don't know what they did with it”, worries Mrs. Goux.