Market seller is fined for shouting
Loud cries ‘upset the market’ says police notice, but stall holders believe the town wants to change the atmosphere
A MARKET seller in Amiens has been fined for shouting too loudly while trying to sell her products.
After nearly 25 years of selling fruit and vegetables at the Beffroi open market in Amiens, Emmanuelle Favrel was shocked when the police stopped at her stall and issued fines for being 2m over her pitch and another for “upsetting the market through her cries about the price of her products”.
The fines totalled €120 and despite her customers wanting to start a petition, “Manue” decided to pay.
”I paid so I wouldn’t have any problems with my work, but I don’t understand why I was fined.
“Since I was 12 I have done the market and I’ve seen that. A market is a noisy place where you need to attract customers. It’s the competition game.
“When politicians are campaigning at election time, they’re also hawking their wares. They don’t get fined for that.”
One stall holder told the Courier Picard newspaper they believed that the local authority wanted to change the nature of the market to make it more about luxury items.
Since the incident the town authorities have admitted as much, with assistant mayor Renaud Deschamps announcing that they want to reduce the number of stalls, increase the tariffs for sellers and bring in more upmarket goods.
Photo:flickr/risastla
