Paris : a new attempt to fire against a shelter for the HOMELESS – Release

A man attempted to put out the fire in the night from Saturday to Sunday in an accommodation centre for the HOMELESS in the upscale 16th arrondissement of Paris, inaugurated the day before and challenged by the local residents, according to a source close to the investigation. “To 22: 00 Saturday night, a man attempted to throw a contraption of incendiary but he has not thrown it hard enough, not doing damage, or injuries. This individual escaped“.

The investigation was entrusted to the commissariat of the 16th district. “It has been mastered quickly, the police did its job“, said to AFP Eric Bend, director-general of the association Aurore, who manages the center. “We want to just be able to work quietly and we take care of the fifty people already present in the centre“, he added. An elected PS in the 16th arrondissement, Thomas Lauret, called to condemn the “all of these heinous acts” on his Twitter account. “The arsonists of the Center for the homeless, should be arrested and their connections updates“, he wrote.

During the first attempt of a fire three weeks before the opening of the centre (17 October), the extent of the damage was very limited (a part of the facade and a pane had been blacked out). The relief had returned to the flammable liquid on-site. The parquet de Paris opened an investigation to “deliberate damage by fire” and the association Aurore had strengthened surveillance of the premises.

Composed of a series of modules in wood, the center, of 196 meters long and 8 meters wide, is installed in the Allée des Fortifications, in close proximity to the bois de Boulogne and a few hundred meters of stone buildings in the area. The project of the centre, which is already the 27 adults and 24 children, and must cover term for 200 people, had caused an outcry in the very chic district of Western paris. In march, more than 40 000 residents had signed a petition, fearing a “new Sangatte” – a reference to the former centre for migrants of Calais. An information meeting was transferred to the rat race.

AFP