Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, had promised. The drug addicts were evacuated from the Jardins d’Eole, in the 19th district in Paris, Wednesday June 30. A week later, have the residents reinvested in the park? Has security improved? And are the addicts really gone? 20 minutes went there several times to see the situation.
Monday July 5, around 6 p.m., when you approach the park, the atmosphere is quite special, as before. A group of alcoholic men seem to be arguing – “Fuck you” shouts one of them – another man advises us to put our cellphones away.
Inside, however, the population is different. A couple with a stroller enters, followed two minutes later by a dad with his two daughters. Municipal police arrest a man who wants to enter with alcohol. The next day, we will even be asked to open our bag, to check it.
“I am super happy to find my park”
Near the games in the southern part of the park, families watch their children, who swing or climb nets. “Today is the big first, I’m going back to the park that I haven’t been to for months”, rejoices Anne-Frédérique Lamberdiere. This mother of a little Salomé who pulls her by the sleeve explains having deserted the park two months ago, before the northern part was made safe for drug addicts evacuated from Stalingrad. “I was on the children’s platform above, a man was peeing on the games, I called out to the police and they said ‘what are you doing here? Go elsewhere, it sucks too much’. It was from that moment that I boycotted the park, I was pissed off. But today I am super happy to find my park, we feel safe. When they created the Éole park 20 years ago, I went down in a tank top without being afraid… ”, explains Anne-Frédérique. Who adds to be aware nevertheless that the problem is not resolved for all that for the district: “They are always in front of my home”.
Cédric, a municipal police officer who has been monitoring the park for 5 years, agrees. For him, there is a “very big difference” between the situation in the park today and that before the evacuation. “Where there were all the drug addicts it is empty,” he explains. He himself says he was afraid and is no longer afraid since it was evacuated.
Cyrille, who lives in front of the park, sounds another music. He came that day for a walk with his daughter, but for him the situation has not changed so much. He was already coming to the park before the evacuation, because the southern part was preserved from groups of drug addicts. He notes that there are still drug addicts around the park. “We have no choice, we have to take the children to exercise,” he says. His wife has had her cell phone stolen twice. The couple will move soon, no longer supporting this “intense” place, he says. Cyrille is also skeptical about the evacuation: “There is a lot of investment in security and not in the social part. If it is to move them, there is no point in evacuating. “
“To quit smoking, we need a stable place”
The main point of sale has moved to the far north of the park, on the side facing rue Riquet. There, between 100 and 200 people stagnate all day, consumers but also dealers. As we take out our phone, a consumer warns us: “Put away your phone, journalists are frowned upon, they got hit last week.” Further on, Laura Steffan (pseudo), tells us her story. Raped by her father, she fell into crack as one falls into deep grief. She comes there to consume, but also because she has friends here. It is shared on the evacuation of the garden: “The inhabitants see this every day, I am a mother, I don’t like them to see this” says with empathy the one who nevertheless explains having been injured by a mortar fire from the residents. and residents – she shows us her bandage. “In the park, at least we were hidden,” Laura continues. And that’s not how we’re going to cut back: to quit smoking, we need a stable place. The North Station smoking room is closed [la salle d’inhalation est fermée actuellement à cause du covid] “
At his side, Didier (a false first name), also a consumer, agrees. “They didn’t even ask us for our opinion. We need more social actors to allow people to get by. This is not where we are going to stop ”. Laura also doesn’t feel listened to: “They don’t take us seriously. I have a bac L and three CAP. We would like rooms where we can smoke. “
Insecurity
Laura and Didier speak calmly, warn us, almost try to protect us, but in fact, insecurity reigns around the park, and has not improved since the evacuation. Friday, a group of young people fought with a knife, tells us the police officer Cédric. There were three stab wounds, according to our colleague Caroline Politi. New mortar shots were launched from residents towards drug addicts. “It just shifted the problem. Before we could not enter the park, today we can not even approach it ”, deplores Frédéric Francelle, spokesperson for the Collective 19, a collective of local residents.
Especially since if the vast majority of “crackers” and “crackers” have been evacuated outside, there are still fewer consumers inside, in fewer numbers. North of the park, in the part formerly occupied by drug addiction groups, the play areas are still empty of children. People are playing basketball. We meet three consumers, who are not satisfied with the evacuation of the park: “It’s a mistake if I smoke crack, I cry every day, it’s not a source of pride, explains Ulhadi Ghennai. But the idiot who evacuated this park, he did not think. The result is that parents are afraid to walk on the streets, especially women. It hurts me that people who smoke crack are in front of everyone. “Before in the park, when there were fights, it was controlled”, adds Houssem, who deplores a lack of “support”, he who only manages to close his eyes when he can smoke. .
Certain parts of the park are totally single-sex. Like this football field in the southwest of the park, where about fifty men play and train on the apparatus. Others pray, chat, do push-ups, sheathing … André, an official in a white shirt who comes to train every day, reassures us: “Here, no violence or fights, they are peaceful”. But this climate of single sex is not very welcoming for women.
Anne Hidalgo had promised that the Jardins d’Eole would be “returned to the inhabitants”. The promise is not yet fully kept, but the subject is on the menu of discussions at the Council of Paris, which takes place this Wednesday.