It is an operation that has become almost commonplace, as there have been so many in the past. This Wednesday morning, shortly before 7 a.m., many police officers landed near a slum occupied by Roma, avenue Léon-Jouhaux, in Lille. Acting on the strength of two decisions by the Lille court, handed down in September and December 2022, the authorities evacuated the families who were still there, i.e. around sixty people, half of whom were minors.
“Given the unworthy and dangerous living conditions (health risks, fire risks, etc.) for the people and in particular the young children living on these lands, it was necessary to evacuate them”, explains the North prefecture. Assuring, moreover, that “64 people, including 33 minors, were offered a sustainable accommodation solution adapted to their situation”.
“More than 30 people on the street”
For Dominique Plancke, from the Solidarité Roma collective, the reality is more nuanced: “In the current state of the proposals, more than 30 people, including nearly half of them minors, will find themselves on the street”, he had lamented, Tuesday, in a press release. An observation which was verified this Wednesday morning after the evacuation: “More than 30 people without a solution, including more than a dozen children”, he lamented on Twitter.
On the preparation of the dismantling of this camp, said of the “pyramids”, the points of view are also opposed. “Each person living in this camp has been the subject of a social diagnosis,” says the prefecture. And the State has endeavored to offer a sustainable accommodation solution to the majority of people, ”insists the prefecture. “The national police have been on the ground three times since this court decision (December 8) explaining to the inhabitants that their place of residence was going to be destroyed”, retorts Dominique Plancke, adding that “it is only Tuesday after noon that the prefecture informed the families of the accommodation offers”.
Of the 141 people who lived in this camp according to the associations, only 64 were therefore relocated. Others had left before the intervention of the police and “some have not been taken care of because they are very unfavorably known to the police”, recognizes the prefecture. To our colleagues from Voice of the NorthDominique Plancke will also explain that five people were “taken to the central police station”.