In Grenoble, in the Abbey district, around fifty people, young migrants, undocumented migrants and especially families with children, should spend Christmas in the cold because the heating of their building, a dilapidated building requisitioned by the DAL (Right to Housing), was cut by the public office for housing in the Grenoble region (ACTIS), a body headed by elected officials from the town hall.
The DAL speaks of a real scandal and organized a demonstration on the steps of the town hall on Wednesday.
At the foot of a Christmas tree, the demonstrators symbolically placed gifts for elected environmentalists, rebellious France and the Communist Party who, according to them, allowed this heating cut to take place.
"These gifts are blocks of ice to tell all these elected officials, and in particular the mayor Eric Piolle, that they have ice instead of the heart", yells in a megaphone Yves Delmonte, member of the DAL.
"At night, we sleep fully dressed"
Water and electricity were also cut off.
Sabrina lives in the building with her three children, aged 3, 5 and 11: “They are very cold and are already all sick.
At night, we sleep fully dressed.
It's like we're outside.
It is not a lifetime, especially at Christmas when it should be a party for the children.
Please put the heat back on us!
This mom begs.
Another mother who lives with her daughter in the requisitioned building testifies: “We are going to live a very hard Christmas, in the cold, and without light.
The weather forecast announces snow in the region.
I am very sad for my daughter because Christmas should be a time of joy for the children.
I do not understand the inhumanity of the people who turned off the heat for us.
While we are already in trouble.
"
For Céline Deslattes, city councilor in charge of great insecurity, “we wanted to find solutions with the people concerned.
By asking social workers to go see them.
But the DAL opposed it, ”says the elected official.
For now, everyone is passing the buck, with no solution in sight before Christmas.