2023-07-19 15:57:19
Jérôme Lacoste, a 43-year-old restaurateur from Montpellier, is on his 51st day of hunger strike. Installed on the forecourt of the town hall of Montpellier (Hérault), the one who has already lost 24 kg intends to denounce an “administrative relentlessness” of the town hall and the prefecture on the background of a dispute between him and his owner, a promoter of the city.
Located on the ground floor of Le Nuage, a building signed by architect Philippe Starck in the Port-Marianne district, the restaurant owner believes that the situation worsened at the end of 2020 when he found a potential buyer. “This one wanted to make a halal restaurant and it didn’t please,” he explains. Since then, people have been constantly putting obstacles in my way to derail my activity, such as threatening me with administrative closure on the pretext that we would organize musical entertainment without authorization, while we have the show license, and so on. »
Contacted, owner and city services, beyond their concern for the health of the restaurateur, pass the buck, indicating that they do not understand the root of the problem and do not consider themselves legitimate to resolve it.
Jérôme Lacoste is worried about the value of his business, which has gone from 1.5 million to 900,000 euros in three years. In March, he filed a complaint with civil action for organized fraud, blackmail, passive corruption and violation of individual freedom. Since then, he has been waiting for the prosecutor to take up the case, “the other solution being to find a new buyer,” he says.
#Montpellier #restaurant #owner #hunger #strike #days