more than 5,200 people were displaced from Île-de-France to other regions

The Le Revers de la Medal collective denounces in a report “the social cleansing” underway before the Olympic and Paralympic Games with these expulsions of migrants, homeless people and sex workers.

Before the Olympic Games, more than 5,224 people were moved from Île-de-France to other regions, since this regional temporary reception system was put in place in April 2023. C This is a figure from the prefecture of the Île-de-France region, obtained by franceinfo. In detail, 3,958 people were deported last year and 1,266 since the start of 2024.

The collective Le Revers de la Medal is releasing a report on Monday June 3 on the expulsions of people (migrants or not) expelled over the last 18 months. According to this collective, the organization of the Olympic and Paralympic Games contributes to “intensification” of the “expulsions from street camps of exiled people”.

Between May 1, 2023 and April 30, 2024, 12,545 people in precarious situations were deported in Île-de-France. There are nearly 3,500 more people than two years ago, evicted from their squats, shanty towns or camps, an increase of 38.5% according to figures from the Observatory of evictions from informal living spaces. “It’s huge and it shows in a documented way the social cleansing before the Olympics”comments Paul Alauzy, coordinator at Médecins du monde and spokesperson for the collective.

The collective recorded “16 operations in four months at the end of 2023, i.e. half of the expulsions for the year and 26 operations in the first five months of 2024, i.e. almost as many as for the whole of 2022”. This is also observed through the exponential number of prefectural decrees “since February 2024”. If the associations ensure “that between May 2021 and January 2024, only two expulsions were linked to a prefectural decree”they have “identified eight in just four months, between February and May 2024”.

“The Île-de-France region has been emptied of some of the people the public authorities consider undesirable”, he laments. The collective denounces a “social cleansing against the most vulnerable populations (people on the street, in precarious housing or dependent on public space to live and work)”. He accuses the Ile-de-France authorities of “disperse in public space” these precarious populations “to avoid informal settlements which would be too visible”. And The Reverse of the Medal fears that “perimeters and security devices” And “the significant police presence” do not contribute to making “public space increasingly inhospitable for people in very precarious situations, and sometimes staying illegally”.

According to the report, similar operations took place outside the Paris region, notably because “other cities host certain events” and “the Olympic flame crosses many departments”. The Observatory of evictions from informal living spaces gives two examples: the expulsion at the end of March in Bordeaux of a slum where nearly 500 people lived next to the Matmut Atlantique stadium and the eviction in Lille in mid-May of the Parc slum Matisse, inhabited by 60 people.

With this report, the collective wants to alert “on the policy of management of public space during the Games and its impact on the most vulnerable people”. He also calls for a “real plan for the care of people in precarious situations before and during the Games”. The Reverse of the Medal advocates in particular for associations and marauding teams to work together so that guidelines are agreed upon and adapted to each individual situation. It also advocates sustainable accommodation and reception solutions with the “net creation of 20,000 accommodation places throughout the national territory, including at least 7,000 in Île-de-France”.

According to our information, this collective does not exclude actions during Olympic events.

Methodology
This report, revealed exclusively by Radio France, Médiapart and The world, is based on “quantitative data collected” by several associations and collectives in the field “for the period from May 1, 2023 to April 30, 2024”. Official documents, such as prefectural decrees, were also analyzed. The Reverse of the Medal specifies that this “local” documentation is “non-exhaustive”.

Created in September 2023, the Revers de la Medal is a collective bringing together more than 100 organizations, associations and federations which work with people in great precariousness, notably migrants, the homeless and sex workers.