The phenomenon is starting to tire the police.
For several months, the police have been facing an increase in procedures related to young homeless migrants in the Yvelines.
Until now, itinerant delinquency was sometimes associated with these young illegal immigrants, minors, especially from the Maghreb.
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But with the health crisis, their presence has exploded and accommodation structures, overwhelmed, can no longer accommodate them and squats are multiplying.
A few days ago, the police came to evacuate a pavilion illegally occupied by a small band in Mézières-sur-Seine, near Mantes-la-Jolie.
But, barely emptied of its occupants, the house was "taken over" by other homeless young people ...
"We don't stop, it takes us a long time"
More recently, the police intervened near the collegiate church of Mantes-la-Jolie, again to put an end to a squat.
“We do not stop, it takes us a long time and the legal response does not always follow, blows a police officer from Yvelines.
In Mantes-la-Jolie, a young person has been arrested nine times in three months.
He was systematically released. ”
The "judicial response" so hoped for by the local police comes up against a pitfall: the age of those arrested.
They often claim to be minors in order to avoid criminal prosecution and the bone X-rays requested by the magistrates still do not offer an optimal guarantee.
“Between 17 and 18 and a half years, it's difficult to be precise, abounds an investigator.
When in doubt, the prosecution applies the law and releases it.
And if, by chance, we prove that they are of legal age, it is the same problem.
The evictions are at a standstill due to the Covid… ”
In Mantes-la-Jolie, they go "unnoticed"
Some associations are still trying to help them.
But their helping hand quickly turned out to be insufficient.
"We have a few places and some stop at our place for a few nights," says Aziz El Jaouhari, the president of the Mantes-sud mosque who organizes meals for the needy every evening.
But we are forced to set up rotations to help everyone. ”
As a result, the number of homeless people is exploding, especially in cities equipped with a train station serving Paris or others with a large immigrant population.
“If they come to Mantes-la-Jolie, they obviously go unnoticed,” says an activist who works alongside them.
But cohabitation is not necessarily natural with the inhabitants, especially the youngest. ”
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In addition, their presence inevitably poses a security problem: according to a parliamentary report, 10% of them have fallen into delinquency.
“These kids are first of all lost children, exposed to the dangers of the street, it should not be forgotten, continues another policeman.
They are children who have become adults by force of circumstances.
But the day they realize their strength, they will represent a real threat to public safety.
“Asked, the prefecture of Yvelines did not wish to speak on the subject.
"The street is exhausting, we knock"
Ryad and Mohamed (both first names have been changed) are more talkative.
The two young men had been sold an El Dorado, a country where everything would inevitably be easier than their native Algeria, mired in a never-ending social crisis.
Friends who had made the "crossing" had confirmed to them, from social networks, the "French dream".
And then, by setting foot in France, Ryad and Mohamed were disillusioned, crossed the same friends in the street, without resources or hope.
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They wandered for months, from homes to squats, in the provinces, in Paris, before putting down their meager suitcase in the region of Mantes.
“I had heard that there were people to help us here, so I came,” says Mohamed, who arrived in France six months ago after leaving his mother in Algeria.
The 17-year-old has slept in a car, in the street, in squats, constant vigilance as the only defense.
“I'm scared of the police and people, too.
I was assaulted, my passport and personal effects stolen from me, ”he adds.
"For two years, I haven't seen anything sweet"
Beside him, Ryad nods.
He has known France for almost two years.
And nothing has progressed for this teenager who would like to get a pastry training.
“The street is exhausting.
We are beaten, poorly regarded, he said, hat screwed on his head.
For two years, I haven't seen anything sweet.
Nobody calculates us, nobody helps us.
The young people of the neighborhoods, who have the same origins as us, ignore us. ”
The two young men, who came from Chlef (between Algiers and Oran) and Annaba, a coastal town in eastern Algeria, claim to have never stolen or gone into illegality.
They worked in the markets, for 20 euros a day.
But the health crisis has cut them off from this meager resource.
Local delinquents offered them some "missions" which they say they refused: "We were offered to sell drugs.
As we are minors, nothing was supposed to happen to us with the police from what we were told.
But we refused, ”they blurt out.
Because the prospect of returning to the “bled” will necessarily be seen as a failure, they have decided to stay in France, despite the living conditions and the remoteness of relatives.
But when we ask Mohamed what he lacks from his past, the tall fellow lowers his eyes and replies, before sinking into a long silence: "My mother."
