FRANCE: OWNERS OF GIANT MILLENNIUM WHEEL DEFY COURT ORDER AND OPEN FOR BUSINESS AS USUAL

Record ID: 647171

  • Title: FRANCE: OWNERS OF GIANT MILLENNIUM WHEEL DEFY COURT ORDER AND OPEN FOR BUSINESS AS USUAL
  • Date: 16th January 2002
  • Summary: (U5) PARIS, FRANCE (JANUARY 14, 2002) (REUTERS) 1. SLV POLICEMEN AND POLICE CARS AROUND FERRIS WHEEL; WHEEL SUPPORTERS WITH BANNERS NAMING THE CITY EACH ONE COMES FROM; WHEEL SUPPORTERS SINGING FRENCH ANTHEM; SCU MARCEL CAMPION SINGING FRENCH ANTHEM; MV MARCEL CAMPION TALKING TO SUPPORTERS; MV SUPPORTERS LISTENING (5 SHOTS) 1.02 2. (SOUNDBITE) (French) MARCEL CAMPION SAYING "People from other fairs as well as Paris, friends, have come to support us. Yesterday there were thirty thousand people who came to have fun at the Concorde, and there were no incidents. However, if they come to take us by force, then there will be incidents that could be very serious." 1.17 3. MV LARGE POT WITH FOOD FOR SUPPORTERS 1.19 4. (SOUNDBITE) (French) SUPPORTER MRS BORLAIS SAYING "It creates work for shops and street vendors, also for the Louvre and a good number of other people. What harm does it make to anyone? Before, the Concorde was dead. Now at least things are happening." 1.35 5. SLV WHEEL TURNING; SLV PEOPLE WALKING TOWARDS TICKET OFFICE; MV TOURIST TAKING PICTURE OF WHEEL; SLV WHEEL TURNING; MV WOMAN GOING ONTO WHEEL (6 SHOTS) 2.08 6. (SOUNDBITE) (French) PASSENGER NICOLE OXENHEINDLER SAYING "For me the wheel represents the Millennium and also a truly popular form of entertainment." 2.21 7. HAS CHAMPS ELYSEES FROM WHEEL; SCU WOMAN ON WHEEL LOOKING AT VIEW THROUGH WHEEL WINDOW (2 SHOTS) 2.27 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 31st January 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: PARIS, FRANCE
  • Country: France
  • Reuters ID: LVA6L8H2KICWZ2V8CEY83U0Y80R8
  • Story Text: Paris' giant Millennium Ferris wheel is still turning
    at the end of the city's main Champs Elysees avenue but no
    one knows for how much longer.

    The owner of the giant Millennium Wheel in Paris
    defied a court order and opened for business on Monday (14
    January) threatening to fight police if they tried to take the
    wheel from the end of Champs Elysees avenue by force.

    Marcel Campion, ignoring the risk of fines of 15,000
    euros (13,400 United States dollars) a day after the city's
    Socialist mayor secured a court order that the wheel be
    dismantled, was supported by some two hundred fairground
    workers who converged on Paris in the early afternoon hours.

    Supporters sang the French anthem and enjoyed a traditional
    meal together.

    "If they (police) come to take us by force, then there
    will be incidents that could be very serious," Campion told
    Reuters.

    Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe was equally unflinching in
    his determination to get rid of a ferris wheel which has given
    two million people a sky-high view of the city lights since it
    was set up to celebrate the millennium two years ago. Delanoe
    said Campion must obey the law like anyone else.

    Dozens of fairground workers from cities such as Bordeaux
    in southwest France and Lille to the north arrived by early
    Monday (14 January) as Campion's 30 staff got ready for the
    first rides at the site on the historic Place de la Concorde
    square.

    "What harm does it make to anyone? Before, the Concorde
    was dead. Now at least things are happening", said supporter
    Mme Borlais after she and groups of fairground workers had
    deployed to strategic positions around the foot of the wheel
    and the tents that house pancake, popcorn and waffle vendors.

    Campion got a permit to set up the 60-metre-high (180
    feet) wheel as part of France's millennium celebrations and
    secured an extension for a second year. Delanoe, the city's
    Socialist mayor, says it is now time to take it down.

    Undaunted, Campion has generated intense media interest in his
    battle and broadened his campaign from a personal battle into
    a struggle on behalf of the entire French fairground industry
    three months before presidential elections.

    At the weekend, he gave rides away for free in a bid to
    win public support. He says his contract promised him the
    right to operate the wheel for a third year at an equivalent
    location.


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