Aid groups fear the action, which mainly involved women and children, could be the beginning of a broader effort by Paris authorities to remove the people by summer.
advertisementFrench police removed dozens of migrants from the forecourt of Paris City Hall, as the capital prepared to begin 100 days of political activity. countdown Until the opening of the Olympics.
Police arrived at dawn and removed about 50 people. Most were women and children between the ages of three months and 10 years old, wrapped in strollers, wrapped under blankets or covered with plastic sheets to protect them from the rain while sleeping in the plaza.
Under police supervision, the migrants packed up their belongings and boarded buses to temporary government housing in the eastern French town of Besançon.
Aid workers have expressed concern that the move is the beginning of a broader effort by Paris authorities to remove migrants and people sleeping on the streets. first Holding the Olympics without providing long-term housing options.
“They are paving the way to the Olympics,” Yann Manzi, a member of the migrant advocacy group Utopia 56, told The Associated Press during a police raid in central Paris on Wednesday. “What is happening now is nothing less than a social cleansing of the city.”
The matches will be held from July 26th to August 11th. Olympic organizers said they were working with aid groups to find a solution.
Many of the affected families are from French-speaking African countries such as Burkina Faso, Guinea, Ivory Coast and Senegal. They sleep for days, weeks, and even months under the ornate façade of City Hall.
Aid organizations such as Utopia 56 distributed food, blankets, and diapers and helped some people find temporary accommodation for one or two nights.
