Shortly before sunrise on Wednesday, April 26, around 100 law enforcement officers set about clearing migrants who were living in a 'squat', an abandoned building in L'Ile-Saint-Denis, an area in the north of Paris. Their aim was to prepare the area for construction of the athletes’ village at next year's Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, according to the non-government association 'Utopia 56'.

Contacted by InfoMigrants, the prefecture (department) of Seine-Saint-Denis said the eviction followed "a court decision of October 30, 2020." It comes despite the fact that the inhabitants had lived in the building for three years. 

The department claims the site is "unsuitable for homes, presenting risks for the occupants." Last March, a 28-year-old Sudanese had to receive emergency medical care after a seven-meter-fall. "These findings contributed to the decision to evacuate [...] in order to secure the premises and the people there," the authorities said.

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During the 1990s, the site was the headquarters of the company Unibéton. In recent years, it has been home to at least 500 people, mostly from Chad and Sudan.

Hundreds had already left

During the eviction, which lasted for more than four hours, authorities separated the 400 migrants into two groups: people with proof of employment were directed to centers or gymnasiums across Ile-de-France, and the others without work documents were taken to a center in Toulouse, in southern France.

Witnesses told InfoMigrants that the operation happened without incident.

Some migrants who knew about the planned eviction in advance, vacated the building early. "Fearing the police, around a hundred undocumented migrants left the premises on Tuesday evening when the evacuation was announced," Paul Alauzy, from Médecins du Monde (Doctors of the World), told InfoMigrants.

Activists had helped those who wished to leave, arriving with trucks a day before the police operation, to help remove the personal belongings of the residents.

Migrants had lived in the building to avoid having to sleep under the bridges of Paris. Some are undocumented, others work legally and some even have refugee status. 

Faris, a 32-year-old Chadian, lived in the squat from when it opened. He got refugee status in 2016 and has a job as an interpreter, but he never managed to find accommodation. "I asked for social housing but there was no room, so I had no other option," he said.

Back to the street

"We threw these people out into the streets overnight. Life is hard for them," said Alauzy. "The place was overcrowded and dilapidated but it was still a better alternative in terms of health and for their dignity than life on the street."

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By late morning on Wednesday, several migrants had already left the emergency accommodation. "They leave on their own because they know that there will be no place for them [in permanent accommodation]. Undocumented migrants always refused to stay there because of their administrative situation," said Faris, who has become a de facto spokesperson for the squat.

So it is back to the streets for the irregular migrants, who will now have to find shelter for the night, away from police radar detection.

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Since December, Parisian authorities have been systematically dismantling migrant camps, regardless of how big or small, and without proposing a solution for rehousing. Every night, foreigners are woken by police who order them to leave the premises. Increasingly, migrants are hiding to avoid having their tents or blankets confiscated.

"As the Olympics approach, the goal is to make everyone disappear from the streets of Paris. No sustainable solution is offered to them," said Alauzy.

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