Migrants and homeless people evacuated from Paris during Olympics
PARIS — Hundreds of people sleeping on the streets of Paris, carrying backpacks and young children, boarded buses surrounded by armed police on Thursday, the latest group to be arrested. Migrants and homeless people must be expelled of the city ahead of the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games.
The group of migrants, mostly African, headed to the outskirts of the city in buses paid for by the French government and temporary accommodation at least until the end of the GamesWhile some living on the streets were happy to have a roof over their heads for the night, few knew what awaited them once the world’s eyes turned away from Paris.
“It’s like poker. I don’t know where I’m going to go or how long I’m going to stay,” says Nikki, a 47-year-old homeless woman from Paris who asked that her last name not be used to protect her privacy.
The French authorities have been clearing migrant and homeless camps in the months leading up to the major global sporting event, which is an important moment for President Emmanuel Macron at a period of political unrest. But the Games have also come under fire, with Parisians complaining about everything from high public transport costs to government spending on cleaning the Seine to swim instead of investing in the social safety net.
Authorities have also been heavily criticized for bussing migrants camping in the city center where the Olympics are taking place to the suburbs of Paris or other areas. Activist groups and migrants have denounced the practice, which has long been used in other Olympic host cities like Rio de Janeiro in 2016 – a form of “social cleansing”.
“They want to clean up the city for the Olympics, for the tourists,” said Nathan Lequeux, an organizer with the activist group Utopia 56. “As the treatment of migrants becomes more and more horrific and vile, people are being driven off the streets. … Since Olympic GamesThis aggressiveness, this hunting policy has become more pronounced.”
Christophe Noël Du Payrat, chief of staff of the Île-de-France regional government, strongly denied the accusations and said the government had been relocating migrants from the city for years.
“We take care of them,” he said. “We don’t really understand the criticism because we are very committed to providing places for these people.”
He spoke as dozens of police rounded up migrants, stopped them from moving through the streets and set up traffic tape. When asked why there were so many armed police for a group that was largely made up of families, Noel Du Payrat said it was to maintain “peace and calm.”
Thursday’s buses arrived after three days of protests by hundreds of migrants and other homeless people like Nikki, who slept outside a local government office while Athletes and tourists flocked to ParisThey denounced the dismantling of homeless camps by the authorities and demanded better access to temporary housing.
Among them was Natacha Louise Gbetie, a 36-year-old Burkinabe migrant, and her one-year-old son, whom she was carrying on her back. Gbetie, who used to work as an accountant in her country, emigrated to Montpellier with members of her family five years ago.
Many of the families relocated by the French authorities are like Gbetie, originally from African countries formerly colonized by the French, notably Burkina Faso, Guinea, Ivory Coast and Senegal.
After being abused, she moved to Paris. She managed to make ends meet by working as a babysitter and sleeping in social housing. That situation ended in the run-up to the Olympics, when, she said, access to social housing was reduced and housing prices in shelters skyrocketed. She said most employers in France would not hire her because she is an immigrant without legal status, and she felt rejected as a far-right anti-immigrant party gained strength in France.
“I think France is saturated. They are fed up with migrants, they want us to leave their country,” Gbetie said.
The protest group agreed that families would board buses to a province near Paris and that families would stay together in shelters.
Despite the agreement, protest leaders expressed concern that the move would isolate migrants and said it remained unclear what would happen to the city’s homeless.
Others, like Gbetie, worry about the future of her one-year-old son, Richard. Although he was born in France, he is among those who have been forgotten, Gbetie said.
“We have children who are French,” she said. “They will be the future engineers and executives of this country. Think of them first and, for now, forget the Olympics.”
In the Place de la République in central Paris, a popular place for protests, they were trying to encourage people to do just that on the eve of the Grand opening ceremony on the Seine.
Several groups gathered for what they called the “counter-opening ceremony,” giving speeches about the cost of the Games. They say the authorities are using them as a pretext for social cleansing, removing migrants and the homeless from the streets in order to preserve the city’s picture-postcard image.
“There was still an arch under a metro track in recent weeks where people were sleeping and they put up a cement wall to stop people from getting in,” explained Paul Alauzy, spokesman for the Revers de la Médaille group. “There is a platform in Aubervilliers where they put concrete blocks with spikes on them.”
A giant banner was unfurled on the square’s iconic statue with the words “Olympics of exclusion, 12,500 people expelled.”
“Shame, shame, shame,” chanted the crowd of about 200 people as smoke bombs in the colours of the Olympic rings were launched.
Various banners were displayed around the square.
One of them read: “France, champion of poor housing.” Another read: “The situation is serious. No housing, no Olympics.” Another called for the Olympic flame to be extinguished, and a flag read: “France, champion of poor housing.” Another read: “The situation is serious. No housing, no Olympics.” Another called for the Olympic flame to be extinguished, and another read: “French President Emmanuel Macron, hands in the Olympic rings, as if handcuffed.”
Noah Fargeon, a spokesman for Saccage 2024, a group that has long campaigned against the Games, called the Paris Olympics a “monstrous waste of public funds.” He said the image presented is just a veneer.
“Paris is turning into a Disneyland for tourists, like LVMH (Louis Vuitton),” Fargeon said. “But on the other hand, those who actually live in the city are being displaced. Instead of investing money to help people find housing, it’s being invested in repression.”
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AP sports writer Jerome Pugmire contributed to this report.
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