Several collectives in Lyon denounce the expulsion of “168 women and children on the street” sheltered in a city gymnasium

The environmentalist mayor of Lyon “Grégory Doucet made the choice of shame”, castigated the Solidarity between women in the street collective.

A rally has been organized since 10 a.m. Saturday May 4 in front of the City Hall of Lyon (Rhône), at the call of several collectives and associations including Jamais sans roof, Droit au logement 69 – Lyon, to denounce the eviction of around 170 women and children from the Marcel Dargent gymnasium in the 8th arrondissement, Friday shortly before midnight.

The collective decided Friday afternoon to occupy this gymnasium and shelter these women whose “several speakers” And “70 children including 7 babies” to denounce the lack of emergency accommodation.

A few hours later, the Jamais sans roof and Solidarité entre femmes à la rue collectives denounced the intervention of the police in messages published on social networks, accompanied by photos. The Rhône prefecture confirms to Agence Radio France that “the municipal and national police intervened, at the request of the municipality, to ask the occupants to leave the premises.”

Mayor Grégory Doucet criticized

The environmentalist mayor of Lyon “Grégory Doucet made the choice of shame. Late this evening, he had the 168 homeless women and children who had taken refuge there expelled from the Dargent gymnasium”wrote the Solidarity between women in the street collective in a message published on X. “These families, these women have returned to the street where they have been sleeping for several months already. The shame”lamented the Housing Rights association on X.

Contacted by Agence Radio France, Sandrine Runel, Solidarity assistant at Lyon town hall, replied that she had warned them before calling the police. It justifies the rapid evacuation of the premises, in the evening, by the fact “that it was not a dignified solution for the people”. “We do not want the gymnasiums to be transformed into accommodation structures (…) There is no privacy, the women sleep on the floor, or on mattresses,” explains the elected official, who feared new occupation of gymnasium, after that of a structure in the 6th arrondissement of Lyon “in June”.

“It is not by occupying gymnasiums that we are going to resolve the issue of homelessness in Lyon.”

Sandrine Runel, Solidarity assistant at Lyon town hall

at franceinfo

“Whether people were forced to leave the premises last night or this morning, the result is the same, she continues. It’s stepping back to jump better, that absolutely wouldn’t have resolved the issue (…) “Let’s not get into the wrong fight, we are not the enemies,” declares the elected official, for whom “the coup must be carried out with state services, and not with the City of Lyon”. She calls on state services to “assume your skills”. “The prefect announced at the start of the year the creation of 300 emergency accommodation places, we didn’t see the color of it”, she laments.