About 80 undocumented people took over an empty office building, located at 17 rue Saulnier (9th), in Paris, on Monday afternoon. This Tuesday, April 19, helped by associations, these migrants organized themselves to stay put.
“The police left. The police chief has given his agreement in principle for the inhabitants to stay,” the association Solidarité Migrants Wilson said on Tuesday morning, assuring that the undocumented were there to “claim their rights, decent housing and papers”.
For the moment, agreement in principle for the inhabitants of 17 rue Saulnier Paris9 to stay. Need mattresses, blankets etc. #we loose nothing pic.twitter.com/C9IndZHMLA
— Wilson Migrant Solidarity (@SolidaritWilso1) April 19, 2022
ACTION NOW
Hundreds of immigrants, homeless, poorly housed and the La Chapelle Debout collective have taken over a building at 17 rue Saulnier. We open to exist, resist and fight together. NEED ON-SITE SUPPORT NOW!!!! pic.twitter.com/XncW0MryF0
— The Chapel Up! (@chapelledebout) April 18, 2022
The day before, more than a hundred people had converged on this empty office building, at the call of the La Chapelle standing collective! who has been campaigning for several years for the reception of migrants. “No to racism ! Equality”, “Migrants’ life matter”, could we read on banners deployed on the facade.
“The Immigrant Embassy”
Inside, undocumented migrants from Mauritania, Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia and arrived in France sometimes for several years. They have put their mattresses and belongings there, determined to stay as long as it takes to make their voices heard.
“This is the immigrant embassy. It is the embassy of those to whom we repeat that they are foreigners. The one from which we prepare our collective victories. The one from which we will obtain equality for all”, thus communicated La Chapelle Debout! in a press release.
The collective is indeed motivated by the ambition “that there is a place where solidarity can be rebuilt between French people and foreigners, between exiles and undocumented migrants, between immigrants and their children”, so that “immigrants have a place independent to meet and organize freely”. And to assure: “this place is a weapon. This place is a tool. It is an embassy of peace in a world at war”.
This place is indeed intended to be “the embassy of immigrants”, explained a member of the collective La Chapelle Debout!, who affirms that “the idea is that people on the street can have a roof over their heads and that ‘they get organized’, in order to obtain rights. Testifies to him of the “lost” years in “procedures that do not succeed”.
“As a collective that fights for papers and housing for all, we are very happy that Ukrainians receive this. We even say “the proof by Ukraine”. It is possible in two weeks to set up a whole accommodation system, to give everyone papers, to give free transport to everyone, ”he added.
This Tuesday, the occupation was therefore organized on the spot. A call for donations has even been launched, because undocumented migrants “need mattresses, blankets, duvets, sleeping bags, cleaning products, brooms, hotplates, kitchen utensils, chairs, tables, prayer mats, flip flops, tickets metro, thunder ink, computer”, lists the association Solidarité Migrants Wilson.