Ahead of the Paris Olympics, police clear a migrant camp near City Hall
PARIS (AP) — French police evicted migrants from a makeshift tent-camp next to Paris City Hall early on Tuesday, the latest clear-out of people without homes that aid groups allege is a campaign to beautify the French capital ahead of the Summer Olympics.
In an operation that began before dawn, police woke around 100 teenage boys and young men from West Africa, telling them to pack their tents and belongings.
Paris police said the operation was carried out for security reasons, notably because the camp was near schools.
Paris-region officials told the men — many of them minors and in the process of seeking residency papers — that they could be housed temporarily for three weeks in the Loire-region town of Angers if they wished. A bus was waiting in a nearby street to take them first to a Paris-region transit center.
Only two or three men boarded the bus. Most of the others walked away, carrying their belongings. Some said they feared being left isolated and abandoned in Angers, 250 kilometers (150 miles) southwest of the French capital, once the three weeks of temporary accommodation run out.
Related articles
Welcome to stench ground zero: The village where an unspeakable two
The 200-odd residents of the teeny village of Stow Bedon in Breckland, Norfolk are used to living un2024-05-01New law to give police, courts greater powers in gang crackdown
The coalition Government wants gang patches banned in public places. Photo: RNZ/John Edens2024-05-01'Time to go home' French farmers told following two weeks of protest
By Sudip Kar-Gupta and Tassilo Hummel, for ReutersFarmers drive their tractors on the ring road of R2024-05-01Trump to stand trial on 25 March in New York criminal hush money case
The judge says Donald Trump's trial in New York will last up to six weeks. Photo: AFP2024-05-01- Police moved in to clear dozens of protesters who had set up tents in a courtyard at the Sorbonne Un2024-05-01
How the New Zealand Falcons are tackling stigma against LGBT people in sports
The touch team practicing at Western Park, Ponsonby. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Robinson2024-05-01
atest comment