A police operation began this morning to evacuate the La Clef cinema in the 5th arrondissement. Since October 2019, this cinema has been occupied by activists who want to save the last associative cinema in Paris.
The members of the collective La Clef Revival call for “peaceful support” to save the last associative cinema in Paris. In a press release, the collective wrote:Today, at 6.20 a.m., the police entered the premises of the La Clef cinema and evicted the occupying collective“.
Clément, member of the collective and student of philosophy at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne explains that the police took over the cinema very early this morning. “We have decided to leave the premises peacefully to avoid any deterioration of the premises”continues Clement. “There is a lot of material that we care about, we defended this place, it is not so that it ends up massacred“, he explains.
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Since 1er February, the collective La Clef Revival, which has illegally occupied the hall since the fall of 2019, feared being dislodged at any time, the administrative court having “enjoined to the assistance of the public force“.
La Clef was to be sold to Groupe SOS, which specializes in the social and solidarity economy. But he announced on Tuesday that he had given up on the plan to buy the cinema: “It is clear that our multiple attempts to build a common project, alongside the collective, have not succeeded. Consequently, we call on everyone to take their responsibilities. We will not renew the promise to purchase that binds us to the CSE of the Caisses d’Epargne IDF in the absence of a peaceful climate”.
A new mobilization of members and supporters of the La Clef Revival association is planned later, at 6 p.m., in a place that has yet to be defined. It will also be an opportunity to react to “the decision of the SOS Group which announces that it is abandoning its purchase project”explains Clement.