On The Run In Paris

international | racism & migration related issues | news report

Saturday March 05, 2005 16:27

by redjade

illegal kitsch or just illegal?

{ photos by redjade and ex-pioneer } (c)

While ex-pioneer and I were recently vacationing in Paris we visited the Eiffel Tower. On the way there we noticed a group of about ten young men, perhaps arab or south asian, selling toy Eiffel Towers of various sizes hooked together by wire.

After exploring the Eiffel Tower we walked back to the Metro and found them again. Being a connoisseur of kitsch I had to buy a mini-Tower. I asked one of the men for the 1€ replica and then asked if I could take his picture.

In a blink of an eye the ten men were running away from us down the street. Soon we witnessed Paris Police in a van on the scene as the men zig-zagged across the busy street to avoid capture. The police quickly gave up.

We sense from the situation that the men were either selling Parisian kitsch illegally or living illegally in France themselves, or both.

Apparently, this is a common scene in Paris.

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Comments (10 of 10)

well a decent Dublin spike

by LOL - messrs brown & co.

Wed Mar 16, 2005 09:08

would set you back at least 50€ no?

Whats a euro

by vin

Tue Mar 15, 2005 11:13

Execellent photography, but you didnt seriously spend a euro on one of those things?

daily routines like "Potluck" for Parisian police

by Hugo

Tue Mar 15, 2005 10:33

Well done photos again...

Surely parisian police chief would keep denying it but that's truth, the realities of human rights ' abuses he /or french interior minister no longer cares, especially the abuses cases victimized/harrased vistors( with shengen visa/permit) and "illegal "aliens from the majority of third world countries..

That's the daily routines like "Potluck" for Parisian police.....NOWADAYSPARISIAN POLICE ALWAYS pass "an Ultimatum" kind of notice/intimidations personally to alien visitor from those countries before their visa expiry date, which's kind rude visit to their residences....
they can even interrupt your personal affairs......

Alas the legacies of President Mitterrand faded away so quickly under the french rightists'

Do see the latest film "Le promeneur du Champ de Mars"
(www.lepromeneurduchampdemars.com)

these guys are probably

by hmmm

Mon Mar 14, 2005 13:59

different souvenirs same Union same problems.

similar to "na spailpin fanaighi" (spailpin fanach plural?) who every day line up on placa catalonia in BCN waiting for their supply of pirate dvds.
They've come so far, to only get jobs selling beer at 1€ after hours to ryanair tourists, or sunglasses or dvds.
And they do this, coz it feeds them. And others give the m them the beer and the pitch, and the dvds and the glasses coz they're slave labour. And others chase them. And others dont think they should get a look in society. And others preach that the countries they come from need democracy. and others have seen the link between pirated wholesale import and the import of hard drugs and arms from the east. And others put it all together in a big jigsaw.
a big stupid jigsaw.
And afterwards having sold the dvds and the beer, and run down the street from the policeman the only person they identify as the enemy, do they sleep twelve to a room dreaming of the streets of europe paved in gold, and democracy, and the beautiful girl in the village and the beer she watched and the hollywood armageddon movies she loved and the porn and the sunglasses she made twelve hours a day?

PIX

by Chtonk

Mon Mar 14, 2005 13:43

You should not show the face of the guy.

I agree

by What ever

Tue Mar 08, 2005 18:10

Saw the same thing when I was in Paris under the tower, the sellers ran but the cops half heartily walked after the sellers, knowing that if they caught one of the sellers it would mean paper work. This happened every 45 minutes. The reason why they are chased off these sellers was that the other more established traders get really pissed off when illegal traders come in and under cut their business so the police have to be seen to do something but from what I saw the cops were not really bothered in catching them just chasing them off for a while. I wouldn’t say they are illegal just chancers like Dell Boy running from the cops cos he doesn’t have a permit to sell in the market.

no permit

by ali la pointe

Tue Mar 08, 2005 17:34

seems most likely they were selling without the required trading permit, although their own documentation could be an issue too. This kind of scenario is very commonplace. Given that these young men's documentation could be an issue, is it wise to publish their mugshots?

like ...

by Oliver Moran

Tue Mar 08, 2005 15:23

Moore Street of old in Dublin?

by redjade & ex-Pioneer

Sat Mar 05, 2005 17:16