This photograph shows a sticker reading �Do not touch my Clap� at the Lepic Abbesses Petanque Club (Clap) in Paris, France on April 23, 2024. Petanque is a game similar to bowls that is as dear to the French as village cricket is to the English. During the Belle epoque, Montmartre was the artistic heart of Paris, home to Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, who were attracted by its cheap rents and bohemian nightlife. Today the picturesque district that was one of the settings of the 2001 film Amelie is a magnet for tourists. Property prices have soared and its well-heeled residents now include celebrities such as Claude Lelouch, the film director. Some are fond of playing petanque on a patch of council-owned land and their club has become a well-loved local institution since its establishment in 1971. It is now the focus of a bitter legal battle with the Paris council, which has obtained a court order to evict the club so it can lease the land to. Photo by Firas Abdullah/Abaca/Sipa USA