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French police officers began dismantling a camp for illegal immigrants near Paris on Tuesday morning where more than 2,000 people lived in difficult conditions.
The operation to clear the camp located under a highway access road in Saint Denis, northeast of Paris, and resettle its residents began around 07:00 CET. Seventy buses were to take the migrants to reception centers and sports halls in the Ile-de-France region.
Police authorities said on Twitter that the operation “would guarantee the safety and health of all, especially against COVID-19.”
Paris Police Chief Didier Lallement added that “these camps are unacceptable.”
“This operation aims to ensure that people in a regular situation are protected and people in an irregular situation are not destined to remain in the territory,” he said.
The camp housed more than 2,000 people, according to the NGO France terre d’asile (“France’s country of asylum”). Most of them were men, mainly from Afghanistan, Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia.
The NGO described the operation on Twitter as “vital” and “long awaited”. Your director, Pierre Henry added: “I welcome the refuge of some 2,000 people, temporary residents of a place of indignity near the Stade de France.”
“In five years, this should be the 301st operation of its kind. Reception in safety and dignity is possible,” he added.
However, the NGO Solidarité Migrantes Wilson deplored that “as usual, there are more police officers than social workers.”
“Many questions from migrants (where the buses take us …) remain unanswered.
“Without a mediator, according to WATIZAT [another NGO]. It is historic, the first evacuation organized only by the police without the help of the City Council or the administrative aid institutions ”, he added.
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