150 migrants dislodged from a squat in Thiais

Buses were waiting for them at 7:30 in the morning. On Tuesday July 18, more than 150 migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, were evacuated from an abandoned retirement home in Thiais, Val-de-Marne, where they had been living since October 2021. “State services, in conjunction with the mayor of Paris, owner of the site, proceeded this morning to the evacuation of the squat located rue des Beaudemons”wrote the prefecture in a press release.

In January 2022, the administrative court of Melun (Seine-et-Marne) ordered the expulsion “without delay” residents of the squat, believing that the “building was dangerous, particularly in view of the difficulties of evacuation in the event of a disaster”. The Val-de-Marne prefecture also invokes a maximum capacity of 90 people in this building and recent tensions between residents, requiring the intervention of the police on two occasions. A request for reconsideration of this judicial decision, issued by the occupants, was rejected last Thursday. The town hall had also issued an evacuation order for imminent danger.

The evacuation did not give rise to any arrests, the majority of the residents got into the cars calmly, specifies the prefecture. “48 people were referred to accommodation solutions in Maine-et Loire-et Doubs, 26 were supported by the city of Paris and 36 by State services in Ile-de-France”, details the prefecture. The others refused the proposed sheltering solutions. “What disappoints me is that the town hall had talked about lasting solutions for families with children but that it does not respect its commitments”, denounced the rebellious MP Rachel Keke on Twitter.