The mayor of Nice denounced this Monday morning the installation of the circus on a territory belonging to the metropolis. In the afternoon, he went to meet the representatives to ask them to leave the commune.
“You are in the city of Nice, and you are not welcome.” The mayor of Nice spoke with representatives of the Zavatta circus on Monday, after having denounced this morning the “illegal” installation of the circus on land belonging to the metropolis.
Refusing to welcome the circus on his territory because of the presence of animals in his show, Christian Estrosi went to meet the representatives of the circus to ask them to leave the city.
“You are a disgrace”
The exchange turned out to be tense between the two parties. The mayor of Nice denounces in particular the illegal occupation of land in the municipality by the circus, and the fact that the trucks of the latter blocked traffic in the morning. “Obstruction of traffic, occupation of the public domain, offenses …” lists Christian Estrosi, assuring that the circus would “receive the bill” for this occupation.
The elected also recalls having taken an order three years ago to prevent the installation of circuses with animals in the town. He also denounces the living conditions of the latter in circuses such as Zavatta.
“To transport a hippopotamus in equipment like that is shameful,” he told the circus people. “The way you treat the animal condition, you are a shame. (…) Now, we will explain ourselves in court, and I, the animals, I will protect them.”
The mayor of Nice thus gave the representatives of the circus “the instruction to kindly leave the municipal territory”.
“You are an outlaw, Mr. Mayor”
For their part, the representatives of the circus affirm that the mayor of Nice is as much in the illegality of them, recalling that the law authorizes them to have animals within their circus. “You are an outlaw, Mr. Mayor. If I sue you, you are sure to lose right away,” said one of the representatives.
The latter denounce Christian Estrosi’s refusal to appeal to mediation, proposed by the prefect in this kind of situation, and the fact that the letters they have sent to the mayor of Nice since September have remained unanswered.
“We’ve been in Nice for forty years,” recall the circus artists, who claim to have “the right to work like everyone else”.
They also refute any animal abuse advanced by the mayor of Nice, even declaring that their circus was the subject of an inspection of the living conditions of its animals by the prefectural authorities when it was in Cannes, and that “everything went well”.
During this exchange, which took place on the land occupied by the circus, the circus people asked the prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes, Bernard Gonzalez, who was also present, to find a solution to the situation.
But the mayor of Nice was not inclined to negotiate. “There will be no circus with animals in Nice”, he reaffirmed. He then claimed that the exchanges would now continue in court. “It may last a few years, but believe me, I won’t leave you alone,” he told circus officials.
