PARIS—(AP)—French police removed dozens of migrants, including families with young children, from the forecourt of Paris City Hall on Wednesday as the city prepares to mark 100 days until the start of the Olympics.
Police arrived in the early hours of the morning and found the women, aged between three months and 10 years old, bundled in strollers, wrapped under blankets and covered with plastic sheets to protect them from the rain while sleeping in the plaza. About 50 people, mostly children, were taken away. The migrants packed up their belongings, boarded buses and headed to temporary housing provided by the local government in the eastern French town of Besançon.
Aid workers said Wednesday's action was the start of a broader effort by authorities in Paris to clear out migrants and others camping out in the capital ahead of the summer Olympics, without offering long-term housing options. I'm concerned about something.
Olympic organizers said they were working with aid groups to find solutions for people on the streets, including refugees and the many people who come to Paris from all over the world in search of work.
“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.”
Many of the 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 facades of Parisian monuments. Aid organizations such as Utopia 56 distributed food, blankets and diapers, and helped some find her temporary accommodation for one or two nights.
Fatoumata, a mother of two from Guinea, spent a month sleeping on the streets of Paris with her two children, aged three months and three years.
“I can't survive, I'm tired,” Fatoumata said as she held her baby. She took the bus in the hope that her life outside the capital would be better.
“They said we would go to the countryside. It would be better than sleeping outside with the children,” Fatoumata said. She spoke on condition that her full name not be published because she did not have proof of her residence.
The Paris Games will be held from July 26th to August. On the 11th, the Paralympic Games will be held from August 28th to September. 8. —-
Associated Press writer Barbara Sark in Nice, France, contributed.
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Follow AP's migration coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/migration and Paris Olympics preparations at https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games.
