It is a legal meeting which Christian Gallois would have done well.
A few months before the opening of the trial for the murderous attacks of November 13, 2015, the owner of the restaurant Le Petit Cambodge on rue Alibert, in Paris (10th district) - one of the establishments which had been targeted by the "commando des terrasses - will go, this Tuesday, to the Paris court.
But not to evoke the terrible attacks of 2015 which had made 130 victims in total, including 14 on the terrace of Petit Cambodge and on that of the neighboring Carillon café.
Christian Gallois, who lodged a complaint for "home invasion", will attend a hearing intended to obtain the eviction of the squatters who have occupied for more than a month a room where the restaurant owner intended to open a new establishment very soon.
Located at the corner of rue Vellefaux and rue Jean-et-Marie-Moinon at the foot of the “working island” Sainte-Marthe, the premises belonging to the company Elogie Siemp (one of the social landlords of the City of Paris) had been offered to the managers of Petit Cambodge in early 2016, the day after the attacks.
“The objective was to allow us to bounce back, to restart in a new place,” recalls Christian Gallois, who has been renting the commercial space since… but recognizes that the company he heads has been slow to initiate work there.
A painful period of reconstruction
After a painful and difficult period of “reconstruction”, Petit Cambodge opened a new site, in rue Beaurepaire near République, in January 2016. Before reopening, in March of the same year, the restaurant on rue Alibert targeted by terrorists.
The premises in the Sainte-Marthe district, which the managers of Petit Cambodge intend to transform into a “central kitchen” for the other two establishments, have long remained deserted.
“The urban planning file took a long time to put together,” recalls Christian Gallois.
“But the work ended up being launched in 2019. They were well advanced.
Without the new confinement, this new establishment, for which we have already recruited and trained six people, could have opened at the end of 2020 ”, assures the restaurant owner.
The collective "the rebels of the Place Sainte-Marthe"
The squatters did not give him the opportunity.
In mid-November, dozens of associative activists gathered within the collective “the rebellions of the Place Sainte-Marthe” took over the premises presented as a place “abandoned for five years”.
The locks were changed and the facade of the premises was quickly covered with tags and protest messages denouncing real estate speculation and the shortage of associative and solidarity premises in the district.
The premises were taken over in mid-November by the collective "the revolts of the Place Sainte-Marthe".
LP / BH
"This room is squatted to fight against gentrification", summarizes a large banner deployed inside the site renamed l'Arche.
“The neighborhood doesn't need yet another restaurant.
This room was allocated to the restaurant under the shock of the emotion aroused by the attacks.
Le Petit Cambodge tried to speculate on this tragedy ”, specifies the militant collective“ Youth for climate Paris ”, which claims the organization of the squat on social networks.
Difficult, if not impossible to hear for the squatted restaurateur.
“We are a company.
We are there to make money of course, ”he admits.
“But from there to saying that we took advantage of the attacks… We had not asked the town hall for anything.
It was she who offered us this room.
We have been renting it for five years, we have invested a million euros in it, we have recruited… At one point, that's enough, ”concludes the professional who is now worried about the economic consequences of the squat.
A stormy first audience
After a stormy first hearing on December 18, dismissed for lack of a lawyer to defend the squatters, will the new hearing prove the squatted restaurant owner right?
Christian Gallois awaits him with concern… and annoyance.
“There is something to be revolted about.
With the Covid, restaurants had to close.
Very strict health standards are imposed on us.
The squatters, them, organize every Friday aperitifs, without mask, in the room.
This weekend, it was showing films… without a mask, ”he lists.
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Members of various collectives, and supported by several local associations, the occupants of “l'Arche” could not be contacted.
One of the many posters covering the front of the doorstep invites the public to attend a street concert this Tuesday at 5 pm in front of the room… To say no to evictions.
