The “Collectif Réquisitions” struck again. “More than 600 people” – mainly migrants including families with children – set up tents on Wednesday, September 1, in front of the prefecture of the Île-de-France region, in Paris, in order to put a little pressure on the State about the care of these families.
“At the foot of the prefecture of Paris and Île-de-France, more than 600 people have just set up in tents, including about fifty children who slept on the street in Paris last night,” explains the association Utopia 56 on its social networks, stressing that some of these children had been on the street “for several months”. And to add: “their place is not in the street, but in stable housing and at school”.
On site, the “Collectif Réquisitions” formed around several associations that come to the aid of migrants on the streets – including Utopia 56 and Solidarité migrants Wilson – are calling for “dignified and lasting accommodation solutions” for these people from Afghanistan, but also from Côte d’Ivoire and Somalia. For several months, they have been carrying out punching operations, hoping to make things happen.
At the bottom of @ Prefet75_IDF, more than 600 people have just set up in tents, including about fifty children who slept on the street in Paris last night. Some have been there for several months. Their place is not on the street, but in stable accommodation and at school. pic.twitter.com/loUHmShQb7
– Utopia 56 (@ Utopia_56) September 1, 2021
After the Place de la République (11th arrondissement) or, more recently, the Place des Vosges, in the Marais (Paris Center), this is the first time that this collective has chosen to pitch their tents in front of the prefecture of the Île-de-France region. de-France, located on the banks of the Seine, near the André Citroën park, in the 15th arrondissement of Paris.
There, dozens of tents were set up from 1 p.m. on the lawns of the André Citroën park. “We set up in front of the regional prefecture to confront it with the vulnerability of people on the street. And we will stay until it takes them away, ”warned Pierre Mathurin, a manager of the Utopia 56 association.
Accommodation openings requested
At least fifteen homeless Afghans, but also several dozen unaccompanied minors, were present at the camp at midday and others were expected “in a trickle” throughout the afternoon. , according to Utopia56.
This is the 10th action of the “Collectif Réquisitions”, systematically ending with the shelter of the people installed in these tents. However, according to them, no lasting solution is then offered to these families who often find themselves on the street a few days later.
Together, the associations therefore ask the State to open new accommodation places, and “if the justification is a real lack of space” as Utopia 56 underlines, they plead for “the requisition of empty housing”. “France, according to INSEE, has more than 3 million vacant homes, including 400,000 in Île-de-France,” adds the association.