Police used tear gas as they dismantled a camp in the center of Paris set up to house hundreds of refugees and migrants evacuated from makeshift suburban shelters without being relocated.
Volunteers had helped set up about 500 blue tents at the Place de la Republique in the heart of the French capital late on Monday, which were quickly filled by refugees and migrants, the majority from Afghanistan.
About an hour later police arrived to dismantle the camp, picking up tents, sometimes with people still inside, to protests and jeers.
Photo: AFP
“They are too violent,” said Shahbuddin, a 34-year-old Afghan as he put a gray beanie back on his head after being forced out of his tent. “We just want a roof.”
Police later used tear gas to disperse the rest of the camp, driving the refugees and migrants out into the streets of central Paris.
The dismantling of the camp came a week after refugees and migrants were evacuated from makeshift shelters in the northern suburb of Saint-Denis without being relocated.
Ian Brossart, a city deputy in charge of housing, emergency accommodation and refugee protection, criticized the “law and order response to a social situation.”
French Minister of the Interior Gerald Darmanin later said that images of the dismantling were “shocking,” and that he had ordered the city’s police to present a report on the clearance.
Paris is a key stop-off point on the European migration route, with camps repeatedly sprouting up around the city only to be torn down by the police a few months later.
Thousands have traveled from Paris to Calais and attempted to stow away on trucks heading across the English Channel to the UK. A small number attempt the crossing by boat.
The clearance comes after the French government approved an amended security law that would restrict the publication of photographs or videos taken of police officers’ faces while carrying out their duties in public spaces.
Media unions say this could give police a green light to prevent journalists from doing their work and potentially documenting abuses.
“We’re here to show that we have nowhere else to go,” said Murtaza, 20, from Afghanistan before the camp was dispersed. “We can’t live like animals, we just want to claim asylum.”
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