VIDÉO. Les gens du voyage squattent devant un restaurant près de Bordeaux, son gérant vit un calvaire
By Jonas Denis
Published on
This Saturday, April 2, 2022, in the afternoon, the car park of restaurant is cleared, much to the relaxation of Jules Mille. He is the manager ofIT-Italian Trattorialocated in the Rives d’Arcins shopping center in Villenave d’Ornon (Gironde).
Until this morning of Friday April 1, 2022, 70 caravans occupied by Travellers parked in the car park of the ZAC commercial activity zone), just in front of his restaurant. They left after the police intervened. Holidays but for how long?
Since September, when he opened his establishment, the caravans have settled in the same place three times.
Loss of turnover
According to Jules Mille, this neighborhood scares away some of the restaurant’s customers. “Already, there are fewer places to park. When I discussed it with customers, they explained to me that it was out of the question for them to park in such conditions. Results ? I lose half of my turnover,” he says.
The restaurant is already in a difficult situation after the pandemic. “We opened in September 2021. The situation was special with a lot of people working from home and, for us, little state aid. In nine months of operation, I had to lay off half of my team,” he laments.
He had planned a team of twenty people, there are only eleven today.
Police response
But the restaurateur’s worries also come from a difficult cohabitation with his new neighbours. He describes a sometimes tense situation. “A few days ago, at the end of the service, one of my employees was refused passage in the parking lot when he was going to the garbage cans. To access it, he had to cross the camp and a person from the community asked him to go around. I went to see them and the tone quickly rose. These are my garbage cans, all the same, it’s crazy to come to this,” he laments.
The straw that broke the camel’s back fell in March 2022. “To get electricity, they plugged into our meter by tinkering with a bypass,” he explains.
I am complaining. The police and agents of Enedis landed shortly after to unplug and they cut the electricity.
The next day, Saturday April 2, the inhabitants of the parking lot moved with their caravans.
A long-term solution
But the manager of the IT Italian Trattoria fears their return in the coming weeks. “They come in waves. When they moved in December, I knew they had received an eviction notice on January 25, 2022 but the police did not intervene until February,” he says. Jules Mille implores the Prefecture to react more quickly.
“If they hadn’t connected to my meter, they could stay for a long time. I wish I didn’t have to move heaven and earth to get an eviction. »
Explanation from the prefecture: “The Metropolis of Bordeaux has not complied with the departmental plan for welcoming travellers. Consequently, the State cannot intervene without a court decision. Such a procedure takes time. »
The restaurant manager reports that a condominium meeting has been scheduled. “We will try to organize ourselves to barricade the area. This will entail significant expense. I hope we will get help. »
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