Toulouse: Saint-Michel Festival fairgrounds take over the Ile du Ramier without authorization
This is the latest twist in a standoff that has been going on for a month between the showmen and the town hall of Toulouse (Haute-Garonne). After the cancellation of the Fête foraine Saint-Michel, due to a lack of agreement with the municipality on a place that could accommodate this major popular event, the fairgrounds set up a few rides on the Île du Ramier on the weekend of October 1, without permission.
About twenty trucks thus invested Saturday, around 4 am, the parking lot of hall 7 of the former exhibition center, currently converted into a large green park. The carnies started to set up their merry-go-round but the municipal police stopped them.
A “coup de force” denounced by the mayor of Toulouse while discussions with the fairgrounds succeeded in finding next year a definitive place to welcome the Fête Saint-Michel, which has been held for more than fifty years in the Pink City .
Bailiff’s report
“Despite the discussions we have had with them in recent weeks, some foreigners have chosen not to respect the commitments made, reacts Jean-Luc Moudenc in a press release. This intrusion compromises the elements of convergence that we were able to outline together last week and undermines the trust essential to the work to be carried out jointly for the coming years”.
Saturday, a bailiff came to see the intrusion and the mayor of Toulouse planned to take legal action for illegal occupation. Showmen, for their part, justify this installation for the survival of their profession. The Fête Saint-Michel represents three months’ salary for these professionals.
The island of Ramier had been proposed as a location for the event by the town hall this year but the fairgrounds considered it too small to accommodate the 96 rides. “Today, there are only 18 of us left, so that suits us, we just want to work because the people who are there haven’t found a way out elsewhere,” said one of their representatives. To avoid a major financial loss, they are hoping to get the green light to run the rides until October 16.