Travelers settle near his businesses and come to relieve themselves on his land: the man recounts his ordeal

Les gens du voyage au Boulou dans les Pyrénées-Orientales. L'INDEPENDANT – MICHEL CLEMENTZ

Dans la ville du Boulou, commune située dans les Pyrénées-Orientales, près de la frontière espagnole, des gens du voyage se sont installés près d’une entreprise. Le responsable de la société témoigne de l’enfer qu’il vit au quotidien.

For almost a month, Jordan Hennequin, director of the companies Poséidon Spa and Zee Spa in Le Boulou (Pyrénées-Orientales), has been living a real ordeal. On November 15, below the roundabout where his businesses are located, several dozen caravans of travelers set up illegally on municipal land, revealed our colleagues at L’indépendant.

The head of a business specializing in jacuzzi repairs has to deal with incivility that has become unbearable.

“It's disgusting and it doesn't sell”

From the first day, Jordan Hennequin claims to have found several droppings on his land. “They come to shit and piss in my house. It's become a dump. There's toilet paper everywhere around. It's disgusting and it doesn't sell.”, he explained to the local daily.

Despite the installation of cameras, the events are repeated and do not stop. “I have experienced the strikes, the Yellow Vests, the farmers and I have never had a problem like today”, he laments. But what worries him most is the impact on his companies. “We don't have anyone coming anymore. I'm really starting to get scared. We're reaching a fairly high-end clientele, they don't want to come to a store with a travelers' camp right next door and I understand them”, says the manager, who specifies that his turnover is down 65% compared to the same period last year.

But last weekend, the population living on the communal land doubled. Nearly 150 individuals are said to be on the premises, indicates L'Indépendant.

Jordan Hennequin reported the facts to the municipal police, the gendarmerie and the town hall, several times. “It's in the hands of the prefecture. They are the ones who must initiate the eviction procedure. The town hall told us that they had filed a complaint from the start. We did the same.”

A request for evacuation was indeed received by the prefecture, and “the assistance of the police” to execute the court decision was granted.