We meet them near the subway entrances, or directly in the corridors of connections: fruit and vegetable vendors on the run.
A scourge for the early vegetables who are well established, who pay rents, salaries, charges and taxes.
A few months ago, a group of traders battered by the health crisis knocked on the door of the Paris police headquarters, to complain about this unfair competition, a few meters from their stalls.
“In addition to posing a serious health hazard to the population, street vendors are causing real occupation of the public domain,” adds the central commissioner of the 18th arrondissement, Emmanuelle Oster.
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Unique in France, the sauvettes-contrefaçon brigade (BSC) carried out 21,400 arrests in 2020 and seized 114 tonnes of goods intended for destruction.
“With confinement, we have seen subsistence products arrive on the market on the sly,” admits Emmanuelle Oster.
Shower gel, toothbrush, toilet paper… These essential goods have been added to the stalls of exotic fruits with the increase in precariousness. "We are targeting the small hands who resell but also the networks which supply them," explains the Commissioner. The problem with street selling is that it allows other delinquencies to hide through it ”.