Nearly 200 people were evacuated from the city of the Petit Séminaire, one of the largest squats in Marseille, this Monday, November 30, following a dangerous order taken by the city.
Three CRS companies were mobilized on the spot to proceed with the operation.
To read also: Place de la République, a succession of "bad gestures" which embarrasses the Interior
An expert, appointed by the administrative court, had issued a report on the state of insalubrity of four buildings in the city, leading the municipality to issue a peril order on November 16.
Social landlord Habitat Marseille Provence told
France Info
that the building had been slated for demolition for over a year due to its condition, but nearly 200 people had moved there.
On the spot, women, children and young men, all migrants or asylum seekers, had to leave the premises early in the morning on Monday according to France Info.
Associations and activists went there to demand the cancellation of the evictions.
The day before, Grace Inegbeze, health mediator for Médecins du monde, who works in the squats and shanty towns of the city, confided to France3 Provence the concerns of the occupants "
because they have no paper
" and that "
they wonder where they will be directed after the evacuation
”.
"
In order to protect populations while respecting the dignity of each person
" as stipulated by the municipality in a press release, four gymnasiums were requisitioned.
But this is a transitional solution.
The city of Marseille expects "
from all the actors the same commitment
" by pointing the finger at the State and the department.
According to the annual report of the inter-association observatory of collective expulsions from informal living spaces, 1,079 expulsions were recorded between November 1, 2019 and October 31, 2020.