Bank cash distributors are prime targets of vandals. Many were vandalized in Rennes. Hard to withdraw money!
“I have clients who came to me and asked me if they could make me a credit card to give them cash” is a question often asked to shop owners in the town centre of Rennes. A request they refuse, normally. “But since most ATMs in the centre of Rennes are broken or do not work, they need a solution” .
Out of Order or daubed in Grafitti
This is one of the consequences of violent events that have shook Rennes for several weeks. Besides the windows, activists are systematically taken out the ATMs. At the miminum, protesters are covering them with paint, which mean that you can no longer read the instructions on the screens, and at the worst case, being damaged beyond repair, totally rendering them out of use rendering them off.
“I was up at the market this weekend and can not find a ATM” explains a shop owner from Rennes. “I was told that there was perhaps an ATM which was serviceable at Place du Republic or train station!” Not really practical. “We have no choice, now we accept the credit card even for small amounts of a few euros,” says the seller of pastries. “It becomes very hard to withdraw cash in Rennes”. As for the distributors still in service, they quickly found themselves running out of money, especially during this long weekend. They should be replenished on Tuesday.