Nearly 800 people, mainly Afghans, were sheltered on Friday morning December 16 after the dismantling of a migrant camp in the north of Paris, announced the prefecture of Ile-de-France.
771 men were sheltered during this operation which “started at 7 am and went in good conditions“, told AFP Christophe Noël du Payrat, chief of staff to the prefect of Ile-de-France.
“Infernal cycle”
This is the third shelter in less than two months on the same camp, located under a section of the Paris aerial metro, after those carried out on October 27 and November 17. Both times, the camp had started to rebuild a few days after sheltering, “an infernal cyclefor the Doctors of the World association. For this shelter, the State requisitioned different types of accommodation, including “gymnasiums and hotel facilities», in the Paris region and in the regions.
Faced with the cold snap, the migrants at the camp had repeatedly asked for shelter in recent days. Wednesday evening, they had briefly blocked the boulevard de La Chapelle, before being dispersed by the police. The prefecture justified this third operation in quick succession by the triggering of the extreme cold plan, with the opening of 1,088 dedicated places in Ile-de-France.
Seventy-five people could not be taken care of and were dispersed, Elise Descotte, from the Utopia 56 association, told AFP.They had appointments elsewhere, had moved away from the camp and found themselves outside the intervention zone“, she explained.
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“This shelter we’ve been asking for is a relief“, reacted to AFP Ian Brossat, deputy mayor of Paris in charge of housing, emergency accommodation and protection of refugees. Ian Brossat nevertheless regretted that “the State (keeps) the places emptyof a center for Ukrainian refugees in the northeast of the capital, which the associations Doctors of the World (MdM) and Utopia 56 are calling for to be requisitioned, which could make it possible to accommodate around a hundred additional people on average.
Friday morning, MdM and Utopia 56 asked, during a hearing before the Council of State, to enjoin the State to open this center to homeless people of other nationalities. “There is an urgent need to get out of this absurdity and develop lasting solutions“, added Ian Brossat. “Because without it, the same causes will produce the same effects.“. This is the 19th operation in 2022 in Île-de-France, benefiting more than 6,000 people.
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