“It was a tent, but it was my only home”: from Saint-Denis to Paris, Nur's chaotic journey

The message circulated that Monday on the phones, an essential lifeline between exiles.

Meet at Place de la République, in Paris.

"To say that we wanted to live here, and find people ready to help us", summarizes Hamid, a 23-year-old Afghan boy, whose life has consisted, for eight days, of seeking refuge "every night in a different street".

In hesitant English, he tells the rest of this eventful evening, the images of which shocked even the Minister of the Interior, Gerald Darmanin.

First the 500 tents set up in the square, then the intervention of the police: “The police beat us, pushed us.

And then they took my house.

It was a tent, but it was my only home.

"Her voice breaks:" I arrived in France four months ago.

Before that I lived in Sweden for five years.

Five years!

And then they told me to leave.

Here I live on the street.

Nobody helps me, nobody talks to me, and every day the police chase us… ”

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Until last week, Hamid lived in the insanitary camp of Saint-Denis.

He was one of the hundreds of unfortunate people left behind during the evacuation organized by state services on November 17.

Nur, 24, is in the same situation.

Since the evacuation of Saint-Denis, we have followed the path of this young man with the appearance of a student, who speaks fluent English, and willingly helped the volunteers to distribute hot meals in the camp.

He also went to Place de la République on Monday, with friends.

"People were calm, however, but the police behaved very badly"

“We were pushed, I fell, I was beaten with a baton in the shoulder when I was on the ground.

A friend of mine was injured in the head, he went to the hospital, and I haven't heard from him since, ”he confides, still incredulous.

“We didn't know it was going to happen like that!

People were calm, however, but the police behaved very badly.

She used tear gas, she chased people.

But what more can I say?

It's the police.

My words won't change a thing.

"

VIDEO.

Paris: hundreds of migrants settle in Place de la République, the police intervene

This Tuesday evening, her shoulder was better, and a friend agreed to host her for a few days.

So Nur returned to Saint-Denis, to once again help the associations to distribute a little food to the migrants, scattered in the north of Paris.

“We all thought we could have a good life here.

Now I don't know.

"

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Reza Jafari, association manager of Afghan origin, established in France for a long time, also took “sticks everywhere” Monday evening.

But that's not what hurts him the most: “Monday night, I saw people at the end of their lives.

Who have not slept for a week, who have a headache… Some of the refugees no longer distinguish between what they experienced there and what they endure here.

They think they are being chased by the same bad guys… They are hit and humiliated.

Last night, a refugee no longer wanted to fall asleep in the tent, he kept

:

”.