Tokyo has extinguished its Olympic flame and now its eyes are on Paris. Time is running out and projects have been launched, particularly in Seine-Saint-Denis, which will host athletics and shooting, the aquatic center and the media and athlete villages.
With the exception of the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, everything has to be built. An "unexpected" opportunity, praise the local elected officials who will recover the infrastructures.
In Dugny, the mayor Quentin Gesell is relieved of the launch of the work of the media village in his town, built on part of the departmental park classified Natura 2000.
At the end of a long legal battle, the administrative court of appeal of Paris gave the green light at the beginning of July, considering that there was no "satisfactory alternative". As soon as said, excavators and workers invaded the site.
Last April, the same court had however interrupted the work by suspending part of the prefectural authorization, in its eyes not sufficiently argued, which allows to derogate from certain provisions of the environmental code when "the major public interest" of a project is proven.
"What we mean by general interest is obviously that of the Olympics and which sweeps aside both environmental and social arguments", regrets Cécile Gintrac, of the Paris-2024 Citizen Vigilance Committee.
Air pollution
"It's David against Goliath. We have reached the end of the recourse", sighs also Jean-Marie Baty, president of the MNLE 93 north-east of Paris (National Movement for the Fight for the Environment) who carried the fight with local residents. .
The association did not wish to seize the Council of State. "Too expensive" and the decision could take months.
On another front, in Saint-Denis, some parents and residents have been leading the rebellion against the development of a motorway interchange located near a school group of nearly 700 students for more than two years. This gigantic construction site should facilitate access to the Olympic village.
"The Olympic Games are done at all costs, at the cost of children's health," accuses Hamid Ouidir, parent of a student at FCPE 93.
The Paris administrative court of appeal, which had found them right in summary proceedings, finally dismissed them last year. They seized the Council of State.
"The Olympics are a steamroller, we fight with our little means", explains Benjamin Darras, a resident. It is like many of its neighborhood "favorable" to the planetary event but with "some modifications".
Even if the municipality has promised to measure the quality of the air there, the protesters consider the project inconceivable at a time when justice has just ordered the State to pay 10 million euros for its failures in the fight against pollution, which kills 40.000 per year in France.
"Finding a balance"
Another battle, that of the workers' gardens of Aubervilliers, part of which must be destroyed to make room for a training pool.
Grand Paris Aménagement, owner of the land, said it had relocated the gardeners to neighboring plots.
But the "Jadists" refuse to leave this "nourishing land", explains activist Dolores Mijatovic. "We are not against the aquatic center, we are just asking them to change the plans so as not to encroach on the gardens".
"Worn out" by a year of struggle, the volunteer is "not optimistic".
"The clock is ticking and there is a calendar to keep, which is why the court decisions go in the direction of the Olympics, there is no longer any question of going back", analyzes Ms. Gintrac, of the vigilance committee.
An argument rejected by Solideo, the company responsible for delivering the works. "There is no such thing as an Olympic privilege," we are assured, recalling that the appeals have suspended the work.
"The Olympics are a huge accelerator for projects led by communities," insist the Solideo and the City of Paris. The department will recover 70% of sustainable achievements, or 3,2 billion euros in investments.
The host city agrees with the opponents about the media village and the training pool which "are not essential to the organization of the Olympics", according to Pierre Rabadan, in charge of the Olympics at the Paris City Hall.
For the PS mayor of Saint-Denis Mathieu Hanotin, "a 100% positive project does not exist, it is a question of finding a balance", in a department long forgotten by the public authorities.