Several hundred migrants pitch camp outside city hall - video
More than a hundred migrant families set up tents outside the Paris city hall during the night, with the help of a pro-migration organisation that aims to find an adequate and permanent solution to the housing problem of immigrants. The organisation addressed a message to several politicians.
Pro-migration organisation Utopia 56 is back at action. With their assistance, 107 migrant families set up in tents outside the Paris City Hall under the guise of night, hoping to pressurise the city management. A total of 209 people, including 15 pregnant women and 59 children – 17 aged below 3 – put up camp in front of the building in the heart of the French capital.
Pendant ce temps-là, devant la Mairie de Paris : 209 personnes, 59 enfants, 17 de moins de 3 ans, 15 femmes enceintes. Welcome to Paris @Utopia_56 pic.twitter.com/q68BLwDRvD
— Noemie SAIDI-COTTIER (@Noemie_S_C) August 31, 2020
The immigrants, mainly from Somalia, Afghanistan and the Ivory Coast, and their helpers worked quickly. They arrived in the square shortly before midnight and erected their tents in fewer than five minutes. Utopia 56 aims to secure permanent and adequate housing for families who have been living on the streets so far. On Twitter, the organisation addressed a message to Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and French Communist Party spokesman Ian Brossat, reminding them that Utopia 56 drew their attention to the housing problem of migrants a month ago, but the politicians have failed to respond.
Ce soir, 107 familles à la rue ont pris place devant la mairie de Paris. @Anne_Hidalgo @IanBrossat Cela fait 1 mois qu on vous alerte, maintenant qu allez-vous faire ? pic.twitter.com/Uh1cr6FIBR
— Utopia 56 (@Utopia_56) August 31, 2020
The tactic seems to have worked, as the Communist Party politician went to the scene in the morning and wrote on Twitter that they would welcome immigrants at the town hall and would strive to solve the migrants accommodation problem. He added that they agree with Anne Hidalgo in that no one can be evacuated without resolving their housing.
Place de l hőtel de Ville aux cőtés des familles. Elles seront accueillies au chaud à la mairie dans l attente de solutions d hébergement. pic.twitter.com/qus2BABaki
— Ian Brossat (@IanBrossat) September 1, 2020
Utopia 56 has been very active in recent months; this was not their first action in which they put up tents in public areas. At the end of May, sixty identical tents were set up in Villette Park, a famous cultural centre in the 19th district of Paris. At the end of June, more than seventy unaccompanied minor migrants have been accommodated in tents in central Paris near Place de la République with the help of the NGO Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), an organisation linked to George Soros.
The latter action was aimed at having the protesting migrants, who are registered as adults, recognised by the French State as minors and treated accordingly until a final decision is made in their case. Since the process can take years, they would like them to be considered minors, because minors are classified as more vulnerable and treated better than adults.
Dans la nuit, un campement abritant une centaine d adolescents s est installé dans le 11e arrondissement de Paris, pour alerter sur le sort des mineurs isolés étrangers à la rue. [#NeLesLaissezPasAlaRue] https://t.co/1p4pRQ6sUB https://t.co/wZehsmfCqL
— MSF France (@MSF_france) June 30, 2020