The mayor of Paris pledged Thursday in city council to support the Théâtre de Verre, a squat of historic artists that it is expelling from a wasteland due to works, to find a rehousing solution "
as soon as possible
" .
The deputy mayor PS Anne Hidalgo in charge of culture, Carine Rolland, has made a commitment to “
support the Co-Arter association, by identifying any relevant opportunity by May, so that the Théâtre de Verre finds a rehousing solution in Paris as soon as possible
”.
To read also: Roselyne Bachelot considers “useless” and “dangerous” the occupation of theaters
Since 2015, the Théâtre de Verre, which claims to have hosted 800 companies and 2,000 artists between 2018 and 2020, temporarily occupies one of the two buildings of a former high school in the 19th arrondissement.
At the beginning of February, its director and co-founder Luis Pasina received a letter terminating the temporary occupancy agreement within three months, the town hall wishing to start work on a media library and a Refugee House.
"
The City made two proposals to the Glass Theater which refused them
", defended Carine Rolland, stressing to AFP that "
the association was perfectly informed from the start that this situation would be temporary, the work to be launched in 2020 at the latest
”.
Con side, Luis Pasina says that Carine Rolland made him only one proposal, unsuitable.
Parisian folk art
For the Parisian executive, the Sapin 2 law, which imposes competition for any provision of public space when the use made of it is commercial, applies to the structure which practices subletting.
Co-Arter must therefore participate in the City's calls for projects, which it has not done so far, according to Carine Rolland.
The EELV, Generation groups.
s, PCF and LR have expressed their concern about the future of this emblematic structure of Parisian folk art.
"
Temporary and empty places, there are fewer and fewer in the city,
" said Communist councilor Raphaëlle Primet.
Read also: Toulouse squat: support from owner Roland assaulted and gassed
“
We never tried to block anything, obviously, we were just waiting to be relocated in conditions that make our activities possible,
” Luis Pasina told
Liberation
on February 17.
"
We find the decision of the mayor of Paris - which did not deign to grant us the slightest meeting - unfair - given the historicity of our actions, the pledges that we have always given
" he added.
Obviously in disagreement with the town hall, the director of the squat had also indicated the existence of many wastelands "
in the districts of Ordener, Bercy, Charenton.
"
As early as Wednesday, LFI advisor Danielle Simonnet asked the executive to "
postpone the eviction from the Théâtre de Verre until the City has found a suitable wasteland
", stressing that the eviction occurred "
in full obligation to closure of places of art and culture
”.
A demonstration in support of the Théâtre de Verre took place the same day in front of the Town Hall.
Created in 1998, Co-Arter is at the origin of this multidisciplinary and nomadic space which has occupied several Parisian wastelands for two decades.
