A collective of French charities that has been a persistent critic of the Paris Olympics accused organisers on Monday of finishing up a “yr of social cleaning” of the capital forward of the beginning of the Video games.
A brand new report by “The Different Facet of the Medal” group, which brings collectively 80 completely different charities, stated Paris was following a playbook utilized by different Olympic host cities by cracking down on migrants, squatters, the homeless and intercourse employees.
“We hoped that this version could be completely different from earlier ones and we made ideas over an extended interval on this regard,” the report stated. “Immediately… we are able to state that Paris 2024 shall be no completely different from earlier editions and can really speed up the exclusion of essentially the most weak.”
The report regarded specifically at actions by the French police to clear squats, in addition to migrant camps and the homeless from Paris streets forward of the Olympics which run from July 26-August 11.
It stated there had been 26 operations to clear migrant camps to this point in 2024, “virtually the identical as for the entire of the yr 2022 (when there have been 30).”
Since April final yr, a complete of 10 squats utilized by migrants, together with a former manufacturing unit near the Olympic village, had been cleared, affecting 1,967 folks.
Many migrants — two thirds of the 6,000 rounded up by public authorities in 2023 — had been despatched to regional shelters outdoors of the Paris area beneath a coverage defended by French authorities as a way of relieving housing strain within the capital.
The report took goal at statements by French ministers and police chiefs that the crackdown was not linked with the Olympics.
“This argument was weak earlier than and at present it’s completely unconvincing,” the report concluded.
Areas utilized by intercourse employees in northern Paris and within the jap Vincennes wooden had seen “elevated police strain” resulting in id checks, detentions and explusion orders for dozens of individuals.
“This summer time, Paris and its area will have the ability to current themselves in a manner that authorities see as beneficial: a sterile ‘Metropolis of Gentle’, with its distress virtually invisible, with out necessary casual areas of life, ‘clear’ neighbourhoods and woods, with out beggars, drug use or intercourse work,” the report concluded.
– Unrealistic? –
“The Different Facet of the Medal” contains main charities equivalent to Medecins du Monde, the Salvation Military or Motion towards Starvation, in addition to many native teams engaged on the bottom with migrants and different weak communities.
The collective has organised a sequence of protests to boost consciousness about its work, together with projecting “We aren’t prepared” on to the Arc de Triomphe and its personal title on to the headquarters of the organising committee.
Its statements and work have been extensively revealed by the French and worldwide media and have drawn assist from different rights campaigners, together with the UN’s particular rapporteur on the precise to ample housing, Balakrishnan Rajagopal.
“Evictions to beautify Paris forward of the Olympics is just like what China, India or many others have executed earlier than different mega-events. How is France justifying this?” Rajagopal requested on X (previously Twitter) in April.
When requested for touch upon the most recent report, the Paris 2024 organising committee careworn it was not chargeable for social insurance policies or policing.
The social affairs ministry stated it “took the issues critically” and had “commonly consulted” charities.
The cupboard director of the Paris regional prefect, who’s chargeable for policing and safety, defended the insurance policies of the federal government and instructed the “Different Facet of the Medal” was unrealistic.
“They need the Olympics to be a magic phrase that may allow us to resolve the ills of French society,” Christophe Noel du Payrat advised AFP. “However we all know that emergency shelters and social housing is beneath pressure within the Paris area.”
The top of the Seine-Saint-Denis area, a poverty-wracked northeastern Paris suburb the place a lot of the Olympics will happen, stated final week that the Video games ought to draw consideration to the capital’s housing issues.
“I would really like it to be a second of consciousness for that proven fact that the emergency shelters within the Paris area are utterly full and we want extra locations,” Stephane Troussel advised reporters on Thursday.
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