In Paris, the camps for migrants are multiplying – The Point

Is this a result of the dismantling of the Calais “jungle” or a simple coincidence ? In the north of Paris, the camp of migrants is increasing, while the town hall has made in recent months to several evacuations. “More than 2 000 migrants have settled in Paris since the last operation of sheltering conducted on September 16, said Friday, Jean-François Carenco, the prefect of the region Ile-de-France, which rejects the idea of a massive influx of Calais. Even speeches for the minister of the Interior Bernard Cazeneuve has assured Friday that the camp wild of Stalingrad would be dismantled in the coming days.

During this time, between the avenue of Flanders and the metro stations Jaures and Stalingrad, the queues in front of the pots of meal distributions stretch out inexorably. “There are 3 days, we distributed 700 to 800 meals. Today, there is more than 1 000. I don’t know how we’ll do, ” says Charles Drane, a coordinator of the NGO Adventist Development and Relief Agency (Adra), which distributes lunch on the avenue de Flandre (19th arrondissement).

“The controls were put in place, on the roads, on the railways, and there is no indication at this stage that there has been an influx of migrants from Calais,” said Friday, the prefect of the region. The minister of Housing, Emmanuelle Cosse, had already assured Thursday on the channel Public Sénat : “there is no mass arrival in Calais and to Paris. “” A lot of migrants go to Paris by bus, by train or by car, and instead maintains a police source. “Difficult to say where they come from, but one thing is for sure : it’s growing at an alarming rate. And now there are families with children, “stresses Violette Baranda, who was elected in the 19th district, who regularly visit this” triangle of migrants ” from the North-East of paris. The tents are isolated, to the haste with tarpaulins or survival blankets, are piled up now over more than 700 metres on the earth-full of the avenue de Flandre, of the linen to dry on wires s tretched between two trees, we talk on an office chair with wheels or a chair smashed.

The prefecture promises made to the shelter

Under the metro air place Stalingrad, a large part of the space was screened after an evacuation, police in mid-September. But every piece of pavement available is covered with dozens of tents. A few meters away, near the station Jaurès, the tents line up along the quai de Jemmapes, rallying point for Afghans.

” The police will come soon ? ” asks Wahidullah Karimi, 26, a former engineer in the energy. In Paris, for a month, he looks forward with a few fellow afghans evacuation ” to be able to sleep warm, that we (them) saves us from this situation “. Like them, an ex-soldier of the libyan army’s 25-year dream of a bed and a roof. “Life is difficult here. It is cold, we eat and we dress with what we are given, we wash in public showers when you can… We don’t want to spend our lives like this, in the street, ” he says in a French correct. Some have folded their tents, seeing the arrival of cars, CRS on Friday morning. But their hopes have been showered : this was an operation ” control “, which allows you to check the administrative situation of the occupants and the sanitary state of the camp, and not an evacuation with ” put away “.

Jean-François Carenco, however, indicated Friday that he had “almost” the capacity to welcome these migrants stay in accommodation that is more sustainable and that”a 30th operation at the shelter” will be implemented, “by the 15th of November, maybe even before”. Benard Cazeneuve, for its part, recalled during a visit to a centre of reception and orientation (CAO) Gelos (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) that nearly 20,000 migrants have been safe in Paris these past few months at 28 operations.

A first reception centre is open

According to several witnesses on the spot, thirty persons were taken Friday morning. An evacuation would take place “in the coming days,” says-t it is also the City of Paris. It will pave the way for the opening of the first reception centre humanitarian response for migrants to the capital, with an initial capacity of 400 beds. Sudanese, Somalis, Ethiopians, Eritreans, Syrians, Libyans, Afghans… “there are all the woes of the world here,” smiled Ibrahim Zakaria, a native of the Darfur region in sudan.

None of the migrants interviewed had wind of arrivals since the “jungle” these days. Several are already gone, as Bokaloi, income a month ago after having spent twenty days. “To Calais, this was not good, there was a lot of mafias. Here, there is no violence, but it’s still hard, ” says the Algerian, bundled up in a sleeping bag, his hood down on his head. A little later, a man put his dream in writing on the back of a tent : “No place like home” (there is nothing better than his home).