In Paris, Rachida Dati wants to close the Champ-de-Mars and sparks debate

The Champ-de-Mars, like the Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes, "has become a place of recurring insecurity," says the LR and MoDem candidate for City Hall.

The Minister of Culture and mayor of the 7th arrondissement, where the park is located, insists that sexual assaults are a daily occurrence there, which could not be confirmed by the police prefecture.

"It has become a lawless zone, with street vendors and professional scammers during the day, and gangs prowling around tourists at night," explains his campaign spokesperson, Nelly Garnier.

Rachida Dati, who regularly calls for security measures, proposes in her program to install an equestrian brigade in the park and to close it completely at night with "heritage" gates similar to the fences of the Monceau or Tuileries parks.

An aberration for heritage defenders, already angered by the glass wall surrounding the Eiffel Tower against the terrorist threat.

"Fences would block one of the most famous perspectives of Paris," this "escape to the distant horizon" which goes from the Ecole Militaire to the Trocadéro passing under the arches of the Iron Lady, fears Julien Lacaze, president of Sites & Monuments.

"To put us in a cage"

Now owned by the city, the Champ-de-Mars was originally a military training ground that hosted the Fête de la Fédération (1790) and later world's fairs. "It's a free space," summarizes Christine Nedelec, president of SOS Paris.

At the beginning of the 20th century it was redeveloped into a pleasure park by the architect Jean-Camille Formigé and the landscape architect Jean-Claude-Nicolas Forestier, who wanted to create "a continuity with urban planning", says Pierre Lamalattie, author of a book on the subject.

"The idea, which spread throughout the world, was to have an interpenetration with the city through through streets that secured the garden," explains this art historian. "There is an automatic functioning which means that the space does not need to be enclosed," he analyzes.

"When I think that some want to lock us behind bars and put the Champ-de-Mars in a cage!", choked out outgoing socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo.

A nighttime closure of one of the capital's largest green spaces would exclude those who come to picnic in the evening, go for a jog, watch over the lawn while watching the monument sparkle..., lists, annoyed, Jean-François Martins, the head of the Eiffel Tower operating company (Sete).

"The advantage of an open park is that it allows passage between the 7th and 15th arrondissements," also notes Gérard Der Agobian, president of the Friends of the Champ-de-Mars.

He nevertheless said he was "mixed" on securing the area with fences because, "even if there are no mass attacks, the residents feel unsafe".

"In terms of security, there has objectively been progress," emphasizes the head of the Eiffel Tower. "Nevertheless, it remains a densely populated tourist site, inevitably attracting those who want to take advantage of the tourists' carefree attitude. But fences would create an even more conducive environment for crime," he argues.

"Fairground"

Beyond ensuring security, Rachida Dati's project is part of an "aesthetic reconquest" of the garden by preserving it from "overexploitation by events and commerce", explains Nelly Garnier.

A necessity for heritage advocates, in whose eyes the site has become less desirable due to lack of maintenance.

"We need to stop turning it into a fairground! There are events going on all the time, it's destroying the lawns," fumes Didier Rykner, editor-in-chief of La Tribune de l'Art.

During the dismantling of the Palais Ephémère in the spring of 2025, "the lawn was scraped and the roots of the trees were torn out," laments Christine Nedelec.

But the Paris city council "finally realized that it is a magnificent setting, which hosted the Olympics. And therefore that it was necessary to reduce the number of events and better maintain it," according to her.