The violent eviction of a migrant camp in Paris



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On Monday night in Paris, the police violently evicted hundreds of migrants who had just set up camp on the Place de la République. With the help of volunteers, the migrants, most of them originally from Afghanistan, had set up some 500 tents in central Paris, but just an hour later the police intervened to remove them, in some cases with people still inside. internal, amid protests by activists and migrants themselves. Subsequently, the police used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse the occupants of the tents, who took refuge in the streets surrounding the square. According to the humanitarian association “Utopia 56”, some 400 migrants arrived from the Saint-Denis camp evacuated on 17 November.

The images of the violent eviction, disseminated by the press and social networks, have aroused protests from left-wing parties, but also from those who support the majority of the government, NGOs and unions. Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin also wrote on Twitter that he was “shocked” by the images of the eviction. “I just asked the chief of police for a detailed report on what really happened, tomorrow at noon – added Darmanin – I will make the decisions of the case as soon as I receive it.”

The Ministers of Citizenship and Housing, Marlene Schiappa and Emmanuelle Wargon, in a joint statement published Tuesday, they wrote that migrants should be treated “with humanity and brotherhood.” The secretary of the French Socialist Party, Olivier Faure, wrote on Twitter that it was “a hunt for misery with truncheons,” while the spokesman for the Socialists, Deputy Boris Vallaud, he said that “the government is failing in all its duties, beginning with that of humanity.”

The prefectures of Paris and Ile-de-France, which managed the eviction, responded that “the establishment of these camps, organized by some associations, was not acceptable.” In the joint communiqué of the prefectures it is recalled that “all people who need accommodation are invited to go to day centers where solutions adapted to their situation are offered”.

On November 17, in Saint-Denis, a large camp with more than 3,000 migrants, again mainly Afghans, was evicted. Some of the migrants were later transferred to reception centers or gyms in Ile-de-France, but since then, according to some humanitarian associations, between 500 and 1,000 people have been roaming the streets of the Paris suburbs.

“They are left behind and are invisible – said Maël de Marcellus, Parisian coordinator of the association” Utopia 56 “- but they also need accommodation, especially in the middle of a health crisis”. Law enforcement, b The world, are applying the principle of “zero tolerance” towards the migrant camps in the capital, decided by the prefect of the Paris police, Didier Lallement, at the beginning of the year. Since then, many immigrants have moved to Saint-Denis.

On Tuesday, Ministers Marlene Schiappa and Emmanuelle Wargon assured that the prefect of the Ile-de-France region has identified 240 places in the reception centers and emergency accommodation facilities. The two ministers also indicated that “10,000 places have been created since October 17” and that “4,500 additional places for asylum seekers will be financed by the government in 2021.” Delphine Rouilleault, general director of France Terre d’Asile, a humanitarian association whose main objective is to support asylum seekers and defend the right of asylum in France, said that “the migrant shelter in Saint-Denis left on the street It is urgent, essential, indisputable. The honor of the French Republic is at stake. “



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