Some 300 to 400 homeless immigrants, mainly from Africa and Afghanistan, occupied an empty building in Gentilly (Val-de-Marne) in the Paris suburbs on Sunday, before all leaving the premises at the end of the day. -noon, according to concordant sources. These people, including several families, entered around midnight on the night of Saturday to Sunday in this empty building of 8,000 m² “dedicated to destruction” of which they made “a citizen requisition”, indicated United Migrants, association which supports them. .
The police, who arrived on the spot, “stopped the entrances and then invited people to leave the premises, which they refused”, reported the police headquarters (PP) to AFP. The vast majority of the occupants were finally evacuated during the day and, at the end of the afternoon, the last people still present left on their own, said a police source.
Temporary housing solutions exhausted
The head of the association was arrested, said the police headquarters. Asked by AFP, the Créteil prosecutor’s office indicated that one of those responsible for the operation was in police custody for “degradation in a meeting”. “He is a well-known activist in the police services for many actions of this type in disused premises unsuitable for habitation”, according to a source familiar with the matter.
“These 400 people are homeless. They have already exhausted temporary housing solutions. […] In order to avoid sleeping on the street for the umpteenth time with all the dangers and difficulties that entails, they have decided to occupy this place,” United Migrants had argued. “The inhabitants undertake to maintain the cleanliness of the premises and to ensure a calm occupation with respect for the neighborhood”, had indicated the association.
“The constitution of this squat is illegal and is not suitable for housing people in view of the state of the building and the lack of electricity”, underlined for its part the PP, specifying that a hundred women and children were among the occupants. They were mainly exiles from Africa (Sudanese, Chadians, Ivorians, etc.) or Afghanistan, including several families.