In a suburb of Marseille, locals have illegally taken over an empty McDonald’s and are using it as a base to distribute over 2,500 food parcels to the needy each week.
The empty McDonald's branch in Saint-Barthélemy, Marseille which has been requisitioned by locals to ... [+]
Whilst France is seen as the capital of haute cuisine, ironically it is also McDonald’s biggest market outside of the U.S.–here the burger chain is lovingly called McDo.
And this McDonald’s has a strong history of fighting for its locals.
McDonald’s is a franchise and in 2018, the franchisee of the Saint-Barthélemy branch in Marseille, who owned six, decided he wanted to sell this specific McDonald’s to a restaurant owner who wanted to turn it into a halal restaurant.
The locals were up in arms because the burger restaurant provided a sense of community in an area distinctly lacking in places to hang out on a budget. It also provided local jobs and felt like a lifeline.
It was at this point that Kamel Guemari, manager of this McDonald’s, locked himself inside, dowsed himself in gasoline and threatened to light a match, streaming it live on Facebook. He earned himself the name, McMartyr, and him and his employees eventually sued to stop the halal sale.
The McDonald's in Saint Barthélemy, Marseille, after it was first closed in 2018.
Kamel Guemari has become a mythical figure in the notoriously difficult Northern suburbs of Marseille–a mix of Spartacus, Don Quixote and Gandhi–battling for workers rights and better life chances in his home community.
The neighbourhood of Saint-Barthélemy is majority Muslim, filled with Algerian and Moroccan descendants whose families arrived in the 1970s when there were jobs, which have long since vanished. As reported in npr, it has a reputation for drugs, gangs and poverty.
The employees won and stopped the sale but the battle has lasted for more than a year. Locals couldn’t find a new franchisee and tried to set it up as a worker’s cooperative.
The courts finally ruled on Dec 12, 2019 that it had to be put into compulsory liquidation but even then, locals locked themselves inside for several weeks.
In February 2020, McDonald’s got out the cheque book, agreeing finally to come to an arrangement over a situation lasting more than 2 years.
A McDonald's employee wearing a t-shirt reading 'Stop to social discrimination' is received at the ... [+]
According to L’Express, the Saint-Barthélemy McDo
Now, it is undergoing a new lease of life. In early April, according to La Provence, the same locals took control of the restaurant, after McDonald’s refused to let them use the empty premises. Now, over the signs advertising Happy Meals, there are names of households needing packages, with green dots if they have already received them, red dots if not.
Volunteers pack parcels of sardines, pasta, milk and yoghurt donated by individuals and organisations. Firefighters are also helping to collect goods and distribute parcels.
Local organisations work out who needs packages in the surrounding areas and come to collect them throughout the day, stopping by the drive-through windows to avoid unnecessary human contact in the COVID-19 pandemic. Over 2,500 parcels are distributed each week, all overseen by its old manager, Guemari.
McDonald’s has been contacted for a statement.
