“It has become impossible to get about in the city center,” a man named Rodolphe said from his electric bike as he dodged foot traffic on the sidewalk alongside the famous Rue de Rivoli, just next to barriers blocking off its empty bike lane
Antoine, another visibly irritated cyclist, said he was at a loss for words after failing to convince police officers to let him pass a checkpoint. He said the QR code he had brandished was not the right one to cross the Seine.
Shops and restaurants say the Olympic games and the controversial metal barriers are costing them money too.
“Paris is empty,” the manager of a bookshop close to the Palais Royal said.
The UMIH, an organization representing hotel and restaurants, said restaurants and cafés in restricted areas are losing up to 60 percent of their turnover. French authorities promised to compensate some of those losses. But compensation requests will be only examined later by a dedicated commission.
Abdelkaber, a taxi driver stationing a few meters away from the gray zone, said he lost more than a half of his usual revenue. “It is unbearable, we feel like prisoners,” he said, adding that he regularly has to turn down taxi rides requested by tourists who are in the restricted area. “Everything has been very badly organized,” he said speaking through the window of his black taxi.
