The eviction of a Parisian pétanque club sows discord

This Monday morning, Junot Avenue, usually quiet, was overwhelmed by 8 CRS trucks sent not to remove terrorists but boules players. Members of the Club Lepic Abbesses Pétanque (Clap), a fifty-year-old club, had been fighting for months to keep their historic field on the Butte, as the Paris city hall - owner of the land - planned to sell it to the neighboring luxury hotel to expand its terrace. Since April 19, some Clap members had been taking turns around the clock, setting up tents, to prevent their eviction from this listed area. At the end of May, city hall announced that if mediation failed, it would use law enforcement to remove the boules players.

With no agreement reached, law enforcement arrived on site this Monday morning, starting by removing the three members who were sleeping there. They then destroyed the clubhouse and loaded a moving truck with anything they could find. Soon, other club members came to the rescue to block the eviction. They lay down on the road in peaceful protest, joined by locals who came to support them. By mid-afternoon, under critical gazes, the CRS eventually removed the roughly 80 people protesting. An operation that sparked anger among many, starting with Clap president Nicolas Jamme, who told Le Parisien he would file a complaint: “What’s shocking is seeing public forces working for a private operator by destroying a listed site. The Hotel Particular director was able to enter the area and by noon was putting up banners announcing the future garden.”

Aymeric Caron, a member of La France Insoumise (LFI) who visited the site to support the players, told AFP: “If the Clap members are expelled, it’s simply to let the neighboring hotel take control of the land for a purpose that is still somewhat unclear.” Actor Fabrice Luchini expressed his surprise on X at seeing a left-wing mayor choose to “favor luxury tourism over a local pétanque club for residents of all backgrounds that’s been here for 50 years in a listed square...” Established in 1971 in this protected green space, the Clap is devastated by the operation, as it has been much more than a pétanque club, serving as a historic intergenerational meeting place for Montmartre. The club, with 300 members, had long requested an occupancy agreement with city hall, which never responded. Today, it states that Clap occupies the area without rights or title, justifying the eviction operation.