On their backs, a bag with taut seams, in their hands a heavy suitcase containing their belongings from years of living in France, and on their faces a lot of fatigue. Philip and his mother, originally from Sudan, pass the gate of 38, rue de Seine, in Vitry-sur-Seine (Val-de-Marne) one last time this Wednesday morning, then the tape closing the perimeter. The largest squat in France, which housed up to 450 migrants in this disused office building, is then in the process of being evacuated, without any overflow being noted.
When the police and numerous agents mobilized by the Val-de-Marne prefecture arrived, shortly after 7 a.m., more than a hundred people had already left the scene. A social diagnosis having been carried out at the end of last week, the fear of an operation of this type had weighed here for several days. “We found out about this evacuation the day before, so we held a meeting straight away to explain to people what was going to happen,” says Paul Alauzy, health monitoring coordinator. migrants and permanent psychiatrist at Médecins du monde.
Also spokesperson for the collective “Le Revers de la Medal”, which brings together associations helping precarious people living on the street, he constantly warns of a deterioration in the situation for the homeless in the approach of the Paris Olympic Games. “We are today 100 days before the start of the Olympics and it is today that we are carrying out this evacuation,” notes the man who does not believe in the chance of calendar clashes.
He, like others, denounces an acceleration of expulsions and dismantling of makeshift camps, with supporting examples. A year ago, the authorities evacuated the former disused Unibéton headquarters on L’Ile-Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis), near the future Olympic athletes’ village. Around 500 migrants lived there. In July, 150 other people who had found refuge in an abandoned retirement home in Thiais (Val-de-Marne) were also evicted. “We are witnessing a social cleansing, a desire to clear the way before the Olympics,” believes Paul Alauzy. The idea is to put all these people in difficulty out of sight, away from the games. »
In fact, the hundreds of people present this Wednesday morning are offered accommodation solutions often located a few dozen or several hundred kilometers from Vitry-sur-Seine. Among the four coaches with around fifty seats chartered for the occasion, one leaves for a reception area in Bordeaux (Gironde), another in the suburbs of Orléans (Loiret). The last two join reception and administrative situation examination centers (CAES) in Essonne and Seine-et-Marne at the end of the morning.
“These are integration efforts that are being swept aside,” regrets Paul Alauzy, who highlights the temporary aspect of these solutions. They are torn from their place of life, and many in a few days will find themselves outside. » Volunteer from United Migrants, an association which provided weekly consultations for access to rights Jhila Prentis
100 days before the Olympic Games. Suitcases in hand, which contain the belongings of their entire life in France, with worried faces, the approximately 300 occupants who still remained – men, women, children – left the place shortly after 8 a.m.
250 police officers mobilized
Some 250 agents were mobilized for this operation, according to the Val-de-Marne prefecture.
The migrants had been staying in these premises for several months, some of them unable to find accommodation in private housing or while waiting for social housing. According to the United Migrants association, which regularly provides them with assistance, 80% of them are legally in France.
This squat has been open since June 2021, according to the Revers de la Medal collective, and has many exiled people. “There were notably 50 women and 20 children,” assures the Parisian Paul Alauzy, spokesperson for this collective and coordinator of migrant health monitoring and psychiatric duty at Médecins du monde.
It is in this squat that Mohammed Sayed, an Eritrean, had lived for three years. He has refugee status, works in electrical maintenance in Eiffage on a permanent contract, but cannot find accommodation. “It’s not that I’m happy to be here, but where am I going to go?” », asks the forty-year-old to AFP, his large wheeled suitcase next to him. LFI MP Mathilde Panot was on site.
For several months, the Revers de la Medal collective, which brings together associations helping precarious people living on the street, has been warning about the fate of the homeless whose makeshift camps are being dismantled at a more sustained pace. approach of the Olympics, according to the latter.
A year ago, the authorities evacuated the former disused Unibéton headquarters on L’Ile-Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis), near the future Paris Olympic athletes’ village where 500 migrants lived. In July, 150 other people who had found refuge in an abandoned retirement home in Thiais (Val-de-Marne) were also evicted.