The homeless, mainly migrants, who had been camping since Wednesday in front of the prefecture of the Ile-de-France region, in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, were evacuated this Saturday, September 4 in the early morning.
In the presence of volunteers from several associations, including France Terre d’Asile, agents from the town hall and the prefecture had the tents set up in the André-Citroën park evacuated. The refugees were separated into two groups: families on one side and isolated men on the other.
In total, 1,210 people were thus evacuated and sheltered, including 540 in Ile-de-France and 670 in the regions, indicates a press release from the Ministry of the Interior, specifying that “the operation is taking place. took place without incident ”.
This morning, André-Citroën park in Paris: 1,204 women, men and children were finally able to access emergency accommodation before being referred to more lasting solutions. It’s a small victory. These actions should not be necessary https://t.co/yUpzpjRUYy pic.twitter.com/WA9QtFcoQl
– Utopia 56 (@ Utopia_56) September 4, 2021
Their administrative situation must now be examined so that the authorities can determine the most appropriate care. In a press release, the Utopia56 association specifies that “accommodation solutions for all seem to appear”.
Families with children
Wednesday, “more than 600 people” – mainly migrants including families with children – had settled in the park, before being joined by hundreds of others.
The operation was set up by the “Collectif Réquisitions” formed around several associations which come to the aid of migrants in the street – including Utopia 56, Solidarité migrants Wilson or the DAL – and demand “decent accommodation solutions. and perennial ”for these people coming from Afghanistan, but also from Ivory Coast or Somalia.
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 housing and at school. pic.twitter.com/loUHmShQb7
– Utopia 56 (@ Utopia_56) September 1, 2021
This morning, more than 600 women, men and children wake up in tents, at the foot of @ Prefet75_IDF in Paris. Despite the silence of @gouvernementFR regarding their accommodation, and like millions of other children, some will go back to school. pic.twitter.com/QPMPywREM6
– Utopia 56 (@ Utopia_56) September 2, 2021
10th operation of the “collective requisitions”
After the Place de la République (11th arrondissement) or even, more recently, the Place des Vosges, in the Marais (Paris Center), this is the first time that this collective has chosen to pitch its tents in front of the prefecture of the Île-de-France region. of France.
This is the 10th operation of the “Collectif Réquisitions”, which uses this mode of action to urge the public authorities to shelter these people who have sometimes lived for long days in tents. However, according to the associations, no lasting solution is then offered to these families who often find themselves on the street a few days later.
Together, they therefore ask the State to open new accommodation places, and “if the justification is a real lack of space” as Utopia 56 underlines, most 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,” said the association.
For its part, the Ministry of the Interior recalls that 5,084 people (3,309 isolated men and 1,575 family members) “have been taken care of during 21 shelter operations” since the start of 2021.