Calais: the saga of evictions continues

By: fawda - October 23rd, 2020  Filed under: Communique, News

Yesterday morning, October 22, 2020, the Prefecture of Pas de Calais once again proceeded with the eviction and mass destruction of a camp. It was a place called “Unicorn Jungle”, where nearly 300 exiled people were surviving, according to the distribution of tents made by Utopia 56 a week earlier. Once again, the associations denounced the brutality and inefficiency of these operations. They do not respect the fundamental rights of the exiled.

The associations denounce the violation of the exiled people’s right to come and go. Once again, a dozen buses had been chartered to take them to an unknown destination. The authorities carried out a “sheltering” operation for at least 190 people. This “sheltering” of men, but also women and children. The uselessness of this “sheltering” operation can be seen, in particular, by the frequency of these operations. [Read More]

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Caen: Eleventh eviction in 4 months!

By: fawda - October 20th, 2020  Filed under: Communique, News

This morning, around 8:00 am, the gendarmerie evicted the three houses of the Cité de la Sucrerie in Cagny, squatted since September 9 by 7 families of Albanian and Kosovar origin. The procedure initiated by the multinational company Südzucker, owner of the premises, was quick. The deliberation reached us very late on Monday, October 5, day of the passage of the judicial officer who gave us an order to leave the premises within 48 hours! This one, very partial, was totally unfavorable to us, because it stipulated that the right to housing is of lower value than the right to property, and none of our arguments were retained. Those of the opposing party, which were not at all supported, were all retained: the unsanitary condition of the premises, the houses for sale on September 10, the day after their occupation as if by coincidence, the occupation, the failure to send the children to school even though we had produced the school certificates, the failure to seek housing on the part of families who “prefer” to squat, the implication of illegal income, etc. [Read More]

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Nantes: what future for the Maison du Peuple?

By: fawda - October 17th, 2020  Filed under: News

After a year of hard work, the Maison du Peuple was able to meet its challenge: a place open to all, capable of accommodating those who needed it unconditionally. Hundreds of people, families with children in difficulty have found a place to rebuild (education for children, unconditional support by the State, etc.). But also to offer a meeting and gathering place to the inhabitants of the city, to set up solidarity actions, to let artistic and sports talents (painting, visual arts, music, dance, etc.) flourish. And yet, this place of life and mutual aid is now threatened with eviction.

There are many reasons for this: the Maison du Peuple is a squat and does not, moreover, meet the safety standards that would allow it to be a permanent place of accommodation. It does not matter that the Maison du Peuple was able to safely accommodate homeless people at the time of confinement: it must close! Supported by various associations of all faiths, the leaseholders found themselves obliged to disassociate themselves from the silence of the public authorities. The work that would have made it possible to rehabilitate the premises was not undertaken despite repeated requests. [Read More]

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Bordeaux: the Free Zone squat under eviction threat

By: fawda - October 16th, 2020  Filed under: News

Alert, Friday morning, October 16, police officers came to the Free Zone squat (La Zone Libre) and began a census of the inhabitants, then abandoned it due to the absence of many (work, school, various activities). When questioned, they suggested that the eviction could take place on Monday morning, October 19th.
A support meeting to propose mobilization and response to this unacceptable eventuality took place at the Free Zone.
A concert in support of the Free Zone was planned for this Sunday at the Rocher de Palmer (a concert hall and loyal support for the Free Zone), in Cenon.
In addition, a rally will be held on Saturday, October 17, at 3:00 pm, Place Pey Berland, in support of the March of the Undocumented and against squat evictions.

The Gravelotte squat on September 25th, then Lajaunie squat on October 2nd, mass evictions of squats resumed in Bordeaux. Each time, hundreds of people, families, and children are thrown into the streets in a veritable “state abuse”.
The Zone Libre (also known as the Ramadier squat in Haut Cenon) with its 80 families, 300 people, and 100 children (80 of whom are in school), is threatened. [Read More]

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Calais: the tension does not fall back

By: fawda - September 28th, 2020  Filed under: News

On Saturday, September 26, 2020, more than 400 people walk in the rain for freedom and human dignity.

Calaisians, activists, volunteers and migrants found themselves in the pouring rain and set off in a demonstration from the camp next to the hospital in Calais. In spite of the wind and rain, the migrants join the parade by dancing to the sound of drums, leading the march and parading with joy and determination in the rain.

At the arrival at the Place de Norvège, a few words from supporters and migrants alternate with music and hip-hop improvisation in all languages. In spite of the cold, it is a moment of euphoria and unity between people who don’t have the opportunity to mix in the city otherwise.
At the microphone, migrants testify to their fatigue and exasperation in the face of daily harassment by the police who evict, destroy tents and confiscate their materials, calling for them to be treated as human beings and not as animals. [Read More]

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Montpellier: the police evict a squat in rue Triolet, eight families with young children find themselves without solution

By: fawda - September 25th, 2020  Filed under: News

On the morning of Friday, September 25th, the police evicted a squat in Montpellier, leaving about thirty people without a solution, half of them children.

Eight families, including some with young children, lived in this squat on rue Triolet, which was opened under tension a year ago, in particular to accommodate migrants. No arrests were made. Private security will remain night and day for two weeks in front of the building, and should allow the evicted people to recover their belongings – although it is still necessary to know where to put them. The network of solidarity has allowed the families to find a place to stay for a few days, but nothing stable. Some children who left this morning for school will bitterly discover this afternoon that they no longer have a home. A construction company is on site to seal the entrances, the toilets have already been broken.

This eviction is part of an offensive against squats. At the end of August, the media repeated over and over again the story of a couple from Lyon, distraught by the occupation of their second home by a family. One commentator after another expressed indignation at the plight of the owners and protested against allegedly lax legislation. On September 16th 2020, the deputies voted an amendment allowing the rapid eviction of squats, left to the decision of the prefect, without a court decision, even after forty-eight hours of occupation. A call for mobilization is circulating to recall the obvious: squatting in an abandoned building for housing and escaping the hell of the street is absolutely legitimate. [Read More]

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Saint-Étienne: imminent eviction of the squat of the post office of Solaure

By: fawda - September 25th, 2020  Filed under: News

On Tuesday September 22nd, a new judgment was handed down at the Administrative Court of Lyon. Even if there are few evidence, the City of Saint-Etienne is claiming a housing project with a ground-floor business carried by Inovy, a project carrying company. The court handed down its decision on Thursday September 24 with the order to leave the premises and the possibility of immediate eviction by the police. The residents are, as of today, in permanent risk of being thrown out onto the street without accommodation.

About forty people are currently living in the squat of the former post office, including school children, people in poor health and people undergoing training. A majority are in the process of applying for asylum. The mayor of Saint-Etienne and his team, in response to questions put to the municipal council on 21/09/2020 , have again and again abdicated their responsibilities on the back of the State and have taken it upon themselves to throw the inhabitants of the former post office out onto the streets. [Read More]

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Athens: Notara 26, five years of solidarity and resistance

By: fawda - September 24th, 2020  Filed under: News

The story has been told many a times now. We have heard, witnessed, and lived it in the past five years. In 2015, with the onset of mass migration and what was called the “refugee crisis” we saw the political, social, and urban landscapes of many places change—including Athens, Greece. The events touched and affected the public and private lives of many. The beginning of Noara26 points to one of those moments. A time when a group of people, with ideals and politics of self-organization, collective action, and solidarity were moved to occupy an empty public building in the city’s downtown and to create a place of shelter and safety for thousands of refugees who were abandoned in the streets of Athens.

This September marks the fifth year of our squat’s existence. It is true that we can mark this date in our calendars and remember it as a day of creation and celebration. But the lessons we have learned, the joyful moments we have created, the memories and lives we have shared, the challenges and struggles we have faced and overcome as community are unmeasurable and exceed the limits of time. [Read More]

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Calais: the ban on distributing food to migrants is maintained. Mobilization on September 26th

By: fawda - September 23rd, 2020  Filed under: Communique, News

For the judge of the administrative court of Lille, 4 kms on foot to eat, that’s fine.

In an order dated September 22, the judge of the administrative court of Lille rejected the request made by 12 local and national associations to cancel the order of September 10, by which the prefect of Pas-de-Calais prohibited any free distribution of drinks and food in certain places in the city center of the municipality of Calais.

The judge stated that the distributions put in place by the State were allegedly sufficient to cover the needs of all exiled people present in Calais, including those sleeping in the city center, considering that “the circumstance that in order to access them, migrants settled in the city center since early August must travel three kilometers is not such as to characterize undignified living conditions”.

This assessment is particularly questionable. Indeed, the humanitarian indicators developed either by the UNHCR or within the framework of the SPHERE project, specify, for example, concerning drinking water, that it must be accessible at less than 500m from where people live – the distances in question being in this case between 4 and 5km, which represents an hour’s walk one way, and that it is necessary to go to two distributions per day. [Read More]

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Vitry-sur-Seine: Presentation of La Kunda, new autonomous social center

By: fawda - September 12th, 2020  Filed under: Communique, News

Since February 2020, we are about fifty people – precarious, undocumented, students – to occupy a plot of land with three buildings in Vitry-sur-Seine. This place, empty for less than a year, owned by the Val-de-Marne, was a home and the headquarters of a company of land shareholders in the department. We chose to call it La Kunda (the community in Soninké).
Why squatting it? The squatter responds first of all to the need, for some of us, to have decent housing and for others, quite simply, to have a home. We refuse precarious work in order to pay a rent that is too expensive, just as we refuse the blackmail of the real estate market and social institutions.
Some of us are undocumented, and follow long procedures that leave them on the street, without housing and without the possibility of working. Without the squat, it is the street, and everyone knows the difficulties of the street. Thanks to these places, some of us can go to school, move forward and have a place to live. [Read More]

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Calais: a decree forbids associations to distribute food to migrants, humanitarians rise up

By: fawda - September 11th, 2020  Filed under: News

An order published Thursday by the prefect of Pas-de-Calais forbids associations not mandated by the State to distribute food to migrants living in Calais. L’Auberge des migrants and Utopia 56 insist on such a measure which they consider “shameful and scandalous”.

A new tug-of-war between migrant aid associations and the authorities in Calais, northern France. In a decree published on Thursday, September 10, the prefect of the Pas-de-Calais, Louis le Franc, announced a ban on “any free distribution of drinks and food [in about twenty streets, quays, squares in the city center] to put an end to public disorder and limit the health risks associated with undeclared gatherings.

“Non-compliance with distancing measures”

Insofar as the State has mandated an association, la Vie active, to provide “four daily distributions of meals”, that it makes available to migrants 38 water taps 5 days a week, including “22 accessible 7 days a week” and that water is distributed during meals, the prefecture considers that “the set of services provided makes it possible to provide migrants with sufficient humanitarian services with regard to the needs of this population, particularly food”. [Read More]

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Montpellier: Squat des Archives, towards an evacuation and a legal transition?

By: fawda - September 11th, 2020  Filed under: News

The Luttopia collective, who is coordinating the squat of the former departmental archives, met today with the Prefecture’s chief of staff, Mr. Smith, in the presence of representatives of the municipality, the Departmental Directorate of Social Cohesion (DDCS), the Communal Center for Social Action (CCAS) and the French Office for Immigration and Integration (OFII), to discuss the future of the building, which is subject to a judicial decision of eviction.

A change in the Prefecture’s discourse?

During this meeting, it would seem that the Prefecture has relatively changed its discourse regarding the eviction of the Squat des Archives, which Prefect Jacques Witkowski had announced last February. A certain awareness of the catastrophic situation of housing and social support in the department has obviously made it possible to envisage a common solution for the future of Luttopia 003, with a view to re-housing its occupants in a truly sustainable manner. [Read More]

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