In the streets of Paris, business as usual

Today I had a wonderful "only in Paris" moment.

Coming home to Place d'Italie via line 7, I exited the metro a stop early, at Les Gobelins, in order to pass an ATM on the way to my apartment. Climbing the stairs up to the Avenue des Gobelins, I heard whistles and shouting that could only mean one thing: a manifestation. Protests in Paris are about as ordinary as rain, but it's not everyday that you stumble into the midst of one. This happened to be students manifesting in a show of solidarity for their professors (the enseignents-chercheurs who have been on strike for several weeks in response to higher education reforms which would restrict their academic freedom).


The tail end of the crowd was just passing me by, followed by the requisite herd of blue gendarme police vans, each one carrying about 20 policemen in full riot-gear (just in case). I turned back to gaze out over the crowd of some thousand demonstrating students, and felt myself overwhelmed by a swell of nostalgic pride. I was uplifted by the protesters' idealism and involvement, regretful of the apathy of my own country's youth, and reminiscent of the days when America too had student protests. For a split-second, I had to fight back tears.

Resuming my walk home, I turned to face the direction of Place d'Italie and nearly burst out laughing. Following behind the caravan of gendarme vans was a battalion of street cleaners. Six men with leaf-blowers attacked the few scraps of paper left behind in the wake of the protesters; assisting them were another six men with brooms or tongs and trash bags, collecting the refuse blown in their direction; bringing up the rear were three large street cleaning trucks (technical term: Gyrolave), each with a huge circular brush, squirting soapy water and scrubbing away at the perfectly clean pavement of the Avenue des Gobelins. Everyone (including the Gyrolaves) was decked in the unmistakable parrot green of the Paris sanitation department.


For me, the manifestation was special, meaningful, emblematic of one group's struggle for the greater good. For the students, for the gendarmes, for the sanitation workers: it was just another day in Paris, business as usual.

I found this NY Times article on "Why Paris Works" for those of you who want to read more about the obsessive maintenance of cleanliness and order in the streets and public gardens of Paris.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CEFD7153EF93AA25754C0A964958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1