The fifteen volunteers of the Restos du Coeurs in Fréjus, that is to say all, resigned last week, reveals Var Matin.
The reason ?
A disagreement with the departmental management.
For several months, they had refused to serve the illegals, fearing for their safety.
“
Some of them have become threatening.
One day, a member of our team even took a tin can in the face.
We had to react before a volunteer was injured,
testifies Hervé, the former manager.
We continued to serve migrants on condition that they were accompanied by a social worker who follows them in their legal process to apply for asylum. Regarding illegal immigrants and undocumented migrants in irregular situations, who by definition are not followed by any social worker, we had to take the decision not to register them any more
”.
A decision at odds with the statutes of the association.
“
When entering our home to exercise this activity, we all agree to respect this unconditional welcome.
This means that we welcome whatever the origin of the people who come to strike the restaurants of the heart, we welcome everyone
”, explained Daniel Ravel, regional delegate of the Restos du Cœur for the southern region with BFMTV.
An untenable situation
The situation was becoming untenable between the management and the volunteers in the field. The former manager, Hervé, had referred these "
security problems
" to the departmental association which offered him two choices: prohibiting access to the center for people who behave badly, or else closing it. . The manager refuses these options. “
A third solution was then chosen: ask all social workers working with migrants to come and register them at the same time and therefore, as soon as there was a problem with a migrant, the information was passed on to the social worker. who was in charge of solving the problem
”. On BFMTV, he adds that “
the basic problem is not whether or not to welcome undocumented migrants.
It is because there were security problems.
We were told clearly: if you refuse to take people in hiding, you cannot stay
”.
“The basic problem is not whether or not to welcome undocumented migrants.
It is because there were security problems ”.
Hervé, the former head of restaurants du cœur in Fréjus
“
I reluctantly chose to resign and the others followed me
,” he continues in Var Matin.
In the same newspaper, the mayor Rassemblement National, David Rachline, supported the volunteers.
“
I stand in solidarity with them.
These volunteer social actors have been violated and assaulted.
The security conditions are no longer met so that they can do their work calmly.
Their hierarchy is beating them down.
I am speechless
”.
In the meantime, as winter comes, the activity has been resumed by the officials of a neighboring town, Roquebrune-sur-Argens, to avoid stopping food deliveries.
