France is booting homeless migrants out of Paris ahead of the Olympics – but some are fighting back

It’s one of the best views in Paris. From a terrace in Belleville Park, you can look across the rooftops and see the Eiffel Tower. There is a hot air balloon in the distance. And best of all, it’s tranquil, far from the crowds that fill the city centre. The park is Abdoulaye’s favourite spot in the city. It holds memories. “This is where I slept, my first night in Paris,” he says. “This was my view when I woke up in the morning.” Abdoulaye is one of thousands of young migrants who came to the French capital hoping for a better life and found themselves homeless. 

• What’s next for the French? The future of France – and Europe – is uncertain after shock election result
• Refugee wonders if it would be better to ‘stay in Yemen and die’ than go through UK asylum system

If you had taken a walk down the banks of the Seine in central Paris a few months ago you would have seen hundreds of encampments lining the riverbank and pitched under bridges. These encampments were made up of young migrants predominantly from former French colonies in West Africa. Today they have all disappeared. 

Their sudden disappearance is connected to a scheme launched – just in time for the Olympics – with ‘regional relief hubs’ taking people from the greater Paris region. Over the last few months, inhabitants of informal settlements, squats, and encampments across Paris have faced a choice: get on a bus to the provinces where temporary shelter will be provided or take your tent and sleep somewhere the tourists won’t see you.  

Many people have already got on buses, promised food and shelter for three weeks and a review of their situation. However, one group is refusing: young migrants waiting for a court date where they hope to be recognised as unaccompanied minors, like Abdoulaye. 

“Sending people to the provinces is a cover, so the rich people will not see poor people when they arrive for the Olympics,” Abdoulaye says. 

For young people “on appeal”, authorities only occasionally organise temporary shelter. They are in legal limbo, unable to access institutional help from either child or adult services. So they end up living under a bridge or in a park somewhere in central Paris, sometimes for months or even years while waiting for their court date.  

Get the latest news and insight into how the Big Issue magazine is made by signing up for the Inside Big Issue newsletter

One such park is in Belleville, which Abdoulaye says was chosen because it had taps and toilets and because the people in this area don’t harass them. Belleville is a diverse, politically and culturally active neighbourhood. Over time, a community of migrants living in the park grew. It provided somewhere stable where they could stay in contact with associations providing support.

‘It was cold, we had nowhere to sleep’

The Belleville Youth Collective was formed between migrants, volunteers and concerned residents. Abdoulaye was one of the original organisers. “Every Sunday we would meet up. Volunteers from associations and people from the neighbourhood would come to talk to us.’’ 

By October last year, more than 300 young people were sleeping in the park. Then on 19 October, they were evicted, with accommodation found for only 47 of them. The majority were forced back onto the streets. It was then the Collective began to seriously organise and occupy buildings in protest.  

Abdoulaye continues: “In November it was very cold, so we occupied an empty building in the park. We explained to them that it was cold, we had nowhere to sleep, the building was empty. Why could we not sleep there? 

“I spoke directly with the mayor of Paris. She did not seem that interested in our situation but at the same time she was touched by some of the things we told her.”  

Another empty building nearby was the Maison des Métallos, a performing arts centre a few streets from the park, which the Belleville Youth Collective occupied from 6 April. Two-hundred unaccompanied young migrants are living in the building on the day Big Issue visits. 

A banner draped over the wrought iron gates at the entrance reads: “The situation is critical, no housing, no Olympic Games, we are staying in Paris.” 

Entering into a courtyard there’s a tap to wash clothes and some chairs around a table to play cards and smoke cigarettes. There is another freshly painted banner drying in the sun. It reads, “Stop the evictions, there is space for everyone.”

There is a small room where food donations are kept and a separate wing for girls, women and children, the windows covered to protect their privacy.  

The doors are locked at 11pm each night but unlike most government-run shelters, people come and go as they please. Some attend maths and literacy classes. Sometimes there is football in the park or they go to visit their friends in other parts of Paris. Multiple times a week the collective will send a large delegation to join the other protests in Paris. Solidarity between struggles is encouraged. 

Most of the people staying here are young people who claim to be minors. They were not classified as such by authorities on arrival so are waiting for an appeal. I am shown letters that inform them that the state cannot confirm they are minors. The most common reason for rejection given is “…the high degree of autonomy and maturity that you have shown by taking the decision to carry out the rest of your migratory journey on your own, without an adult, is not compatible with the age that you declare”. 

While they wait, they are excluded from the child protection system. They cannot access health, housing or education. In Paris the appeal process takes between four and 10 months, during which they have no recognised status, they are neither children nor adults, simply abandoned while they wait.  

T-shirts and tracksuits are drying on the grand staircase that opens into a spacious hall where a hundred colourful blankets are spread on the floor. Normally this space is used for concerts and cultural events. The employees of Maison des Métallos have welcomed the immigrants and agree that they should stay until suitable accommodation is found.

The Maison has a long history of radicalism and political action, first as a national trade union centre and then as an aid centre to Republican Spain, welcoming volunteers joining the Resistance, then in opposing the wars in Algeria and Vietnam and fascism in all its forms. Today Maison des Métallos is continuing this tradition by welcoming and sheltering young migrants in face of the rise of the far right in France. 

Do you think they would let Ukraine’s refugees live like this?

Anonymous

There are some bathrooms but no showers. “Do you think they would let Ukraine’s refugees live like this?” someone asks pointedly. The authorities of Paris do not provide anything, except threats of eviction. By the window overlooking the courtyard there is a table which is always ready with pens and paper.

The walls in this corner are covered in drawings, the yellow, red and green colours from the flag of Guinea, used frequently in their artwork. This is where most of the residents are from; Guinea was a French colony until 1958. 

Under a striking self-portrait read the words: “I’m a migrant, I come from Africa, I’m a migrant, that’s why I’m nothing, I left home because there’s nothing, I crossed the sea, there are others dying for nothing, I’m going back to France but still nothing, I’m a migrant but they think I know nothing, they see me in the street they think I’m here for nothing”. The artist signs their name as ‘The King’.  

What’s the solution to the immigration crisis, I ask. Everyone replies saying exploitation of Africa by foreign powers is the primary cause. When friends and family call from Guinea and ask if they should come to France too, they are careful to explain the dangers. “It’s their life and their decision to make, I will not tell them not to come,” explains one young occupant. “They also want to travel, see the world and improve their situation. I cannot stop them.” 

Abdoulaye explains how his imagined picture of France compares with reality. “Before coming, I saw Europe as a place of solidarity and liberty of expression. Before, I thought France welcomed everyone. The experience has changed how I understand the world. I did not think I would experience racism here in France. Do you see this burn on my arm? Someone burned me with a cigarette here, it was not an accident.”  

This month, Paris will be the destination for hundreds of athletes fulfilling their Olympic dreams. But dreams are a privilege people like Abdoulaye can’t have. 

“Because of the colour of my skin and my origins I am not allowed to dream here,” he says. “I don’t know what will happen next week. If I could have the chance to show people that I am not delinquent or simply a migrant, I could dream of something. But it does not work like that here. I really want to study. I like to help other people. I would like to participate in something that supports and uplifts other people.” 

In the meantime, the Belleville Youth Collective has given Abdoulaye something positive to focus on while living in limbo. “Before I would wake up and just walk around the city all day. It is so hard in my position to integrate into society. Being part of this collective has given me direction in my life. I wake up in the morning and I have something to do.

My friends who were sleeping on the street before now have a building to sleep in. It feels good to create something for ourselves, to take some control of our situation and to help other people. We have created a community and something real for ourselves.” 

On 3 July, between the first and second rounds of the parliamentary elections, authorities moved in to evict people from the Maison des Métallos. But the strength of the collective meant it didn’t become just another injustice. They negotiated places for all the people to stay in gymnasiums so nobody was left to sleep on the streets. They pressured authorities to offer people the chance to take tests that could see them assigned to schools. And before the buses took them to their new accommodation, another act of solidarity. A group of women, either pregnant or with young children, who had also been protesting for housing rights for months, came to the Maison des Métallos. The collective refused to leave until they too were given shelter. 

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. Big Issue exists to give homeless and marginalised people the opportunity to earn an income. To support our work buy a copy of the magazine or get the app from the App Store or Google Play.