The Church of Scientology settles in Saint-Denis: the American organization has acquired a building of 7,000 m², north of Paris, to strengthen its presence in France, reveals Friday Liberation . This five-storey building, which has all of a classic office building - with the exception of the four saunas on it - was bought in 2017 for 33 million euros and is expected to be inaugurated soon.
The building is "extremely well located" and is particularly visible from motorists of the A1 motorway near the Stade de France, avowed by David Proult, PCF assistant in charge of urban planning at the town hall of Saint-Denis , who is worried Friday on Europe 1. Local elected officials are largely opposed to the arrival of the Church of Scientology in Seine-Saint-Denis but have little means to counter this installation.
"We do not have legal tools"
"We told them again and again that they were not welcome (...) and I observe that everyone is a little helpless." (Scientologists) distributed on the forecourt of the train station recently, and they got an authorization from the prefecture for that ... ", regrets David Proult, at the microphone of Matthieu Belliard.
>> From 17h to 20h, it's the big evening newspaper with Matthieu Belliard on Europe 1. Find the replay here
"Today, the only tools we have is the law of urban planning, but it does not allow us to prohibit the sale (of the building) nor to obstruct the installation of Scientology. on the territory ", concedes the elected who also alerted the authorities of the State, including the Interministerial Mission to fight sectarian aberrations (Miviludes). "They tell us that they will do prevention to the inhabitants," he says bitterly.
"We can see that there is a problem with the law: today we do not have legal tools to prevent this, the law must change," David Proult urges. Given the current legislation, to prevent the installation of the Church of Scientology in this building in Saint-Denis would amount to a discriminatory practice, which would then be condemned by justice.