Paris (AFP)
The migrant camp, installed for nearly a week in the Parc de la Villette, Paris tourist site, was evacuated Wednesday morning and the 157 people present "put away", after "revealing the migratory tension" in the capital, AFP found.
At the arrival of the prefecture at 07h45, the 77 tents the day before still a few meters from the Ourcq canal, on a very busy lawn in the summer, were already stored and some irregular migrants had already left this makeshift encampment.
Coming from all horizons, sub-Saharan Africa, Afghanistan and even some Europeans, the remaining 157 people, including 63 children, with very varied statuses (refugees, denied asylum ...), were all taken peacefully by five bus to emergency accommodation in Paris and in the inner suburbs.
Faced with the fears of some of them, who camped in this very busy place "to be visible", as recalled by a banner still deployed during the evacuation, the prefect of the Ile-de-France region Michel Cadot came " guarantee the commitment of the state ", especially" for the most vulnerable people ".
The operation, initiated by the association Utopia 56, "revealed the tensions around the migration issue" and was especially "emblematic" if not of great magnitude, said the prefect, recalling that "more than 15,000 people have been sheltered "since early 2019.
With a month of proposed accommodation including to people already rejected their asylum application, "medium-term solutions" have been found, allowing "to break out of the classic cycle of three days" of accommodation before returning to the street, explained for its part Guillaume Schers, director of emergency at France land of asylum, association that coordinated the operation Wednesday with the prefecture.
No need to reassure Mohamed, a 50-year-old Algerian, with a black cap screwed on his head when he boarded the bus: "Nothing is written ... We are going to the hotel ... In a hostel? We do not know" regrets the father who slept last week in the camp with his 20-month-old baby.
Still, the camp allowed "to explain the reality of the situation to our fellow citizens," says Yann Manzi, co-founder of Utopia 56, tired of the indifference aroused by insalubrious camps in northeastern Paris. So, "we will go upmarket," he promises. With a new operation punch? "Why not the Palace of Versailles," he slips.
© 2019 AFP