“No to expulsions”: nearly a hundred students demonstrated this Saturday in front of the Ministry of Sports against the requisition of Crous housing during the Olympic Games, considering themselves “in the dark” and “abandoned”.
“Oudea, the Crous is not yours! “, they chanted, gathered around 2 p.m. in front of the ministry headed by Amélie Oudéa-Castera, at the call of a collective called “La Rescrous” and several unions including the Student Union, Unef and Solidaires.
Twelve residences requisitioned this summer
On the occasion of the Games in Paris, twelve Crous residences must be requisitioned this summer. They house around 3,000 students during the academic year and must temporarily accommodate firefighters, caregivers, law enforcement and civil security.
The public authorities estimate that 30% of rooms remain empty each summer. In a “progress update” on April 4, the Crous ensures that it has sent a questionnaire to the students benefiting from this Crous housing and received 2,300 responses, including 1,448 requests for rehousing at this stage. Those affected will receive compensation of 100 euros and two places to attend the Games. The first moves are due to begin next week and will be “taken care of”.
“It’s still a precarious population forced to make efforts”
“The Crous will evict and relocate further away. Except that students still do not know where they will go or when, in the anxiety-provoking context of exam periods. They are in the dark and afraid,” Hugo Getas, 22, one of the members of the collective, assured AFP.
“It’s unfair, it’s still a precarious population forced to make efforts,” he said. Some “have summer jobs, internships, work-study programs”, and will have to move away or even “take time off to move”. Maxime Dupont, 22 years old, will for example have to “move before June 30 but take the architecture diploma on the 28th”. He will not “ask for rehousing” because he believes that he “does not have to leave”.
“We don’t know if tomorrow the State will evict students by using public force,” asks Félix Stive, administrator at the Crous de Paris for the Student Union.