The flea market smash and grab | M6 | Enquête Exclusive

The economic crisis is bringing a new dynamic to a small market that is now attracting greedy eyes: that of second-hand dealers and flea markets. With its 3,500 stalls, the Paris flea market is the biggest in France, an amazing realm of bric-a-brac, from trendy clothes to old furniture, passing through bazaars of every type where only one law applies: the law of bargaining.With purchasing power in a slump, the market attracts thousands of shoppers tempted by the low prices, but also second-hand dealers trying to make a little money on the black, by selling off cheap anything they don’t need.But the atmosphere can sometimes get highly charged between the traffickers of fake goods and the official traders, between the “biffins”? the rag-pickers who live off scrap?and the police, which is trying to “clean up” the area, between the rich antique dealers and a mysterious English lord who has bought up a large portion of their shops for 50 million euros.A lot of people want to get their hands on the booming flea markets. So who are the winners and the losers in this merciless battle?