Everyone does not approach the heat wave with the same means to hydrate and cool off. At the Loon-Plage migrant camp, near Dunkirk, in the Nord department, the Charitable Roots association has made a tank of water available to them. But according to Human Rights Observer, video in support, this vital reserve was confiscated by the authorities during an eviction.
“During a meeting between several associations and the sub-prefecture of Dunkirk, it was agreed that the water tanks made available to people exiled by @CharitableRoots would not be seized during eviction operations. This was not the case this morning”, is it written on the Twitter account. Could the authorities confiscate this reserve? 20 minutes make the point.
FAKE OFF
The operation carried out by the security forces took place on Wednesday, July 20, in the early morning. The camp brings together several hundred people who had to leave Grande-Synthe following evictions.
In A press release published the next day, Thursday, the regional prefecture explained that it was only an error: “Many questions were asked during the evacuation of a camp located on the municipality of Loon-Plage pursuant to a court decision. The bailiff, by mistake, had a tub of water taken away. The prefect of the Hauts-de-France region, prefect of the North, made sure that it had been returned last night. »
of a legal point of view, evictions must be authorized by a judge, who relies on an act of a bailiff. In order for the owner of the premises, whether it is the State or an individual, to recover his property, it may also be ordered that the property of the occupants be seized. This is frequently the case with migrant tents. If it was not an error, the tank could have been noted among the elements to be entered.
That said, in the middle of a heat wave, and for people without access to drinking water, such a decision would have been very questionable. Especially since in France, the Environmental Code notes that “the use of water belongs to everyone and each natural person, for their food and hygiene, has the right to access drinking water”.