About 400 homeless people, including families with children and unaccompanied minors, pitched tents Thursday in Paris on the very chic Place des Vosges in order to ask the State for "dignified and lasting accommodation solutions", a noted an AFP journalist.
These homeless people are supported by the “Collectif Réquisitions”, which brings together several associations, including Utopia, solidarity migrants Wilson and the DAL.
Occupation in progress of the Place des Vosges in Paris by the Collectif # Réquisitions with more than 400 people.
homeless people including families with children to request immediate accommodation until the rehousing of all and the application of the requisition law!
1toit = 1right!
pic.twitter.com/iLWQXZkXaV
- Right to Housing (@federationdal) July 29, 2021
"We plan to stay until the shelter of all those present," warned Philippe Caro, of solidarity migrants Wilson.
“We are here to raise the tone: there are 400,000 empty homes in Île-de-France.
We ask for a better application of the law on requisitions, ”he continued.
"Making the invisible visible, also in upscale neighborhoods"
“We chose this place because it is a tourist spot in Paris.
We want to show another side of Paris.
Make the invisible visible, also in upscale neighborhoods, ”Pierre Mathurin, Utopia Paris coordinator, told AFP.
In a press release, the DAL explains that this is the 9th action of the “Collectif Réquisitions”.
In May, this organization known for its punching and homeless actions had occupied a gymnasium belonging to the town hall of Paris.
At the end of January, it was a former nursery school in the 16th arrondissement, then in mid-February the Hôtel-Dieu.
The Collective “enabled nearly 3,000 people to no longer live in the streets or in makeshift shelters.
The installation in the public space of several hundred homeless was the only way to ensure respect for their right to be accommodated until their rehousing ”, assures the DAL.
“With this action we want to get out of a gear: instead of finding accommodation, the State relies on us.
We find housing because no one else is doing it, but we shouldn't be there to make up for the failings of the state.
With these actions we remind them that it is their role, not ours, ”denounced Pierre Mathurin.