Plans from the Parisian authorities to request the bouquinistes to temporarily close sparked an outcry from owners who expressed fears of the financial impact and damage to the fragile structures caused by any move, with some of their stalls more than one century old.

A petition protesting against the move received nearly 150,000 signatures, with the bouquinistes part of Paris' culture for the last 450 years.

Around 60 per cent of the bouquinistes - 570 out of 900 - are set to be affected.

Paris prefect of police Laurent Nuñez held a meeting of representatives from Paris City Hall and the booksellers last week attempting to resolve the issue, but maintained before the Council a move was necessary to ensure the safety of the Paris 2042 Opening Ceremony, for which organisers have planned an unprecedented 500,000 people lining the Seine to watch athletes travelling on boats.

"These boxes are not installed in a uniform manner, there are gaps," Nuñez claimed, as reported by France Régions 3.

"A compact crowd on the high platforms would tend to congregate in places where we can see the parade and this would pose a certain number of crowd management difficulties.

"I fear that if we leave these boxes, in a place where there will be hundreds of thousands of people, that we will have extremely serious incidents."

However, it was agreed tests would be first carried out on "three or four boxes" to assess the feasibility of the move, which the booksellers believe could validate their argument that the structures are too fragile and too complex to transport.

The Olympic Games Opening Ceremony is scheduled for July 26 next year, with the Closing Ceremony set to take place at the Stade de France on August 11.

The Paralympics Opening Ceremony is due to be held at the Place de la Concorde on August 28 and the Closing Ceremony at the Stade de France on September 8.