Mortar fire, knife threats, incivility… at the Paillade wild market where the situation has become explosive

Faced with the scale of the phenomenon and exasperated by the situation, the traders of the Halles des 4-Saisons are sounding the alarm and calling for intervention by the City and the prefecture to resolve the problem once and for all.

2020! Indeed, we have to go back to August 2020 to find traces of the first articles written on the subject of the illegal market of La Paillade in Midi Libre. At the time, fifteen tons of foodstuffs had been seized while illegal sales were taking place at the “back of a truck”, behind the old McDonald’s.

Four years later, the phenomenon has not been contained. Worse, it has grown. After the Grand-Mail, the illicit market, with its prominent stalls and mountains of rubbish, has made a quick hop to the Neptune swimming pool car park.

Before setting up, for several months now, on the Esplanade Mosson, on Avenue d’Heidelberg, where the non-food market is held. A stone's throw from the 4-Saisons Market.

A black illegal market full of people every weekend. ML – DR
“This situation is not normal. Everyone knows about it but no one cares and turns a blind eye. For us, it is as serious as the “Corona””, protests a sedentary trader. For him, up to a dozen trucks set up illegally, especially on Saturdays, at the end of the non-food market.

Unfair competition

“They are colonizing the parking lot even though they have no right to be there. We are subjected to terrible and unfair competition. Their low-end merchandise comes from Spain and since they don't pay anything to set up shop, it's all profit for them. What is the State doing? ? It's incredible that four times a week, Tuesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, people who are not in order come and sell fruit, vegetables and even poultry without the slightest control and without any hygiene service.”

City's reaction: “We don't have nice people opposite us”

On the side of the municipality, we take the matter very seriously. For Alban Zanchiello, deputy mayor in charge of commerce, “we intervene every week and this has a very significant cost for the City“. In the order of 1 million euros per year, distributed as follows: 800,000 euros in cleaning and 200,000 euros in overtime for the municipal police officers who ensure order.

200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000

Alban Zanchiello will be joined by the first deputy mayor, in charge of the Mosson district, Valérie Brunet and Sébastien Cote, deputy mayor at security, to find solutions with legal traders: “We are also talking to the prefect, who is aware of the situation, so that the national police can support us before it gets out of hand. We need a message of firmness”, insists Alban Zanchiello. Who is aware that the situation is very tense with regular stallholders: “We must not take justice into our own hands”, he reminds.

“We have to be very careful, because we don't have nice people in front of us. They are traffickers and some are ready to go far”. Recently, during an operation, 1.8 tons of merchandise were seized. It was given to the Food Bank.

“Whereas we, when we go 50 cm over our stall in the market halls, we get a comment if not a fine. We are fed up. The State and the law must assert themselves. It is all well and good to carry out police raids, seize food and redistribute it to people in difficulty, but we now want them to find a definitive solution against these outlaws. Because otherwise, one day, there will be a tragedy.”

On Saturday, December 21, illegal traders were targeted by mortar fire. ML – DR

This is not a threat but an observation. The violence escalated this Saturday, December 21 when about ten hooded people armed with mortars fired on illegal traders. A customer was slightly injured. A general brawl ensued.

The merchants of Les Halles say that it was not them and condemn these actions. “We don't just shoot people like that. It's not up to us to make the law. We don't want to get into a confrontation. The tension is very real. Some people have pulled out knives. Three weeks ago, I heard a man threaten to come back with a gun. We would like the problem to be resolved calmly, by the City or the State. But today, I'm not going to hide it, we all think that the city hall has abandoned us”, complains a street vendor.

We all think that the city hall has abandoned us

For him, there are solutions but none have been implemented. “Why aren't there more checks?? Why aren't height limiters installed at the entrance to the car parks?? Why doesn't the town hall send its mobile truck to the site??”

Huge traffic jams that are annoying the residents of La Paillade. ML – DR

Crates thrown into the wild. ML – DR

The forest, behind the parking lot, soiled by waste. ML – DR

“And I'm not even talking about the traffic jams that this generates to the detriment of local residents or the crates and waste that we find in the nearby forest. It's complete nonsense and no one says anything.”