Macron's 'social cleansing'; the darker side of Paris 2024 Olympics
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Campaign groups say the French President aims to swipe the tents of homeless migrants across Paris before the arrival of international media crews to cover the Games in July.
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Tents set up in close confines at a makeshift camp for homeless families, near the Porte de La Villette in Paris, Monday, Aug. 26, 2019 (AP/Kamil Zihnioglu)
The British daily The Times highlighted what it called the "darker side" of the Paris 2024 Olympics, as the French capital is set to welcome the summer Games.
Colorful banners adorned the façade of Paris Town Hall, heralding the onset of summer Olympic festivities in the French capital.
However, at the rear of this grand structure, a police operation unfolded illustrating "a darker side of the Games," The Times reported. It mentioned that on Tuesday, seven vans filled with officers descended upon a makeshift camp established by homeless African migrants.
According to the newspaper, this action, orchestrated by French President Emmanuel Macron’s administration, aimed to relocate the homeless from a city unable to accommodate them. With Paris' 120,000 emergency housing beds already occupied, French officials suggested that provincial towns with available space would better suit their needs.
Nevertheless, the campaign group The Back of the Medal contended that Macron's plan constituted a form of "social cleansing" in preparation for the Olympics. According to the group, the leader's primary objective was to swipe the tents across Paris before the arrival of international media crews to cover the Games in July.
The Times noted that the 60 tents that were erected by the Paris Town Hall hosted migrants from former French colonies in West Africa, many claiming to be unaccompanied minors entitled to housing. Their presence on the streets resulted from French officials challenging their claims to be under the age of 18.
The French Ministry of Interior arranged transportation to relocate migrants to the city of Angers in the Loire Valley and assured them three weeks of shelter while authorities reviewed their cases and arranged permanent accommodations, the British newspaper mentioned. However, according to The Times, only two out of approximately 80 migrants agreed on the relocation plan.
"The associations say this is social cleansing, but in reality we are offering decent housing to people sleeping on the streets," argued an official at the Paris region prefecture, claiming that the transfers had begun in 2019 and are unrelated to the start of the Olympics.
Luc Viger, the head of unaccompanied minors at migrant charity Utopia 56, confirmed that makeshift camp evacuations were not unprecedented. However, he emphasized their increasing frequency in the lead-up to the Olympics.
Elsewhere, Viger noted that individuals transported to provincial towns often found themselves back on the streets.
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