Clichy Cracks Down on Morocco-Bound Luggage Carriers Amid Tensions

Since mid-June, the checks carried out among the baggage handlers on Boulevard Jean-Jaurès as part of a departmental operational anti-fraud committee (CODAF) have multiplied in the city of Clichy. In action, the Urssaf, customs, the city’s health services and the municipal police. "Let’s say we’re used to this kind of visit," ironizes the manager of a targeted shop with Le Parisien. "Checks are normal, but we’re not going to kid ourselves, our sector of activity is the subject of very special surveillance."

His shop handles an average of 5 tons of goods per week. A less expensive service for families. "By plane, the extra kilo is billed 10 euros, while with a baggage company, it costs around 2 euros," he emphasizes.

Are the impressive quantities of parcels and luggage, mainly to or from Morocco, that transit through these small shops each week the source of this surveillance? Only partly, say the complainants. "There is also the fact that it is a community business," notes this same professional. "Suitcases and goods transiting by the ton between France and Morocco, it inevitably fuels fantasies." Except that infractions were found during the last check, carried out on June 19 as part of the CODAF operation. One of the establishments, located a stone’s throw from the Porte de Clichy, risks heavy sanctions for having remained open despite an administrative closure, notified by a municipal decree on November 23, 2021 but still in force.

Despite the infractions noted, the targeted baggage handlers denounce the "gentrification" of the municipality, "accused of walking" in the wake "of some of its neighbors". "We imagine we still work as we did twenty years ago, when piles of luggage were piled up on the sidewalks, we regret on this side of the boulevard. It’s true that in terms of image, it wasn’t great, but the reality is that it’s been a long time since anyone did that." They also accuse the municipal authorities of harassment. "The truth is they want us to leave, grumbles one of them, convinced of being the victim of a war of attrition. Clichy is becoming bourgeois, wants to become Levallois and us, well, we’re no longer chic enough, we don’t fit the decor anymore..."

Accusations rejected by the city of Clichy. According to her, these checks will continue. It recalls having adopted this strategy until obtaining the closure of the proliferation of shisha bars, considered subject to nuisances. "The idea is the same for the baggage handlers. We have nothing against this profession, only these establishments are too numerous. The city does not host three or four, but twelve. Twelve! That’s way too much," says Patrice Pinard, deputy in charge of security.