Saturday evening, between 9:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., several buses, minibuses and vans carrying 245 Ukrainian refugees and 50 Portuguese drivers stopped in Lyon for the night, reports France 3 Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. They were welcomed by the Red Cross at the Halle des Sports (Lyon 3), made available by the municipality. The Salvation Army provided meals for these travel-exhausted families.
A round trip between Ukraine and Portugal
This convoy, organized by Portuguese civilians, left Lisbon to pick up refugees in Ukraine, and bring them back to the Portuguese capital. The drivers have accumulated more than 8,000 km of road to help these families. Thanks to the urgent establishment of the gymnasium, everyone was able to rest before leaving this Sunday.
The City of Lyon has also made available the Bellecombe gymnasium (Lyon 6), transformed into an emergency accommodation center with 140 beds, to welcome future refugees with dignity, whether they are in transit or wishing to stay. The latter will be directed to an accommodation and social reintegration center in Villeurbanne, where the Red Cross will help them with the formalities.