Le Figaro Nantes
The roar of bulldozers, before construction containers?
A first eviction procedure from a Roma camp located on the eastern outskirts of Nantes is being set up by the services of the Loire-Atlantique prefecture,
Le Figaro
learns , confirming the fears of the residents concerned.
The shantytown is located at a place called Moulin des Marais.
Along the ring road, the camp is located on land in Nantes Métropole, a stone's throw from Porte d'Anjou and Boulevard de la Prairie de Mauve.
Some sixty families would occupy the camp, divided into two centers along a path.
“For several days, Romanian families from Moulin des Marais have been spreading rumors to us about a coming eviction, intended to free up the land,”
worried Philippe Baro, president of the association, at a press conference on February 16. Roata, responsible for supporting Roma migrants in the Nantes region.
“People came, police officers, to tell us that we had to leave the land within two weeks
,” also testified Terezia, recycling center agent and Roma resident of Moulin des Marais.
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Eviction schedule to be defined
The two camps on Chemin du Moulin des Marais constitute the largest group of the five Roma shantytowns located on the land of the concerted development zone (ZAC) of Doulon-Gohards, and are occupied by more than 350 people according to association stakeholders.
The oldest installations in this sector date back to 2010. Like the 53 other shanty towns in the Nantes metropolitan area, occupied by some 3,500 people, distributors installed by the NGO Solidarité Internationale ensure access to drinking water;
electricity is hacked.
For the moment, the sword of Damocles only threatens the camps located on the ZAC.
The Loire-Atlantique prefecture confirmed to Le
Figaro
that it was preparing the eviction of at least one slum.
“The owner of the site – Nantes Métropole Aménagement – obtained a judicial order of eviction which was served on the occupants of the site in February 2024”
, indicate the State services, specifying that the assistance of the public force will not be has not yet been granted at this stage.
The schedule for the operation will be shared at a later date
“in conjunction with the metropolis and the developer”
.
We must find ways to eliminate these slums, in consultation with the residents.
Simon Citeau, municipal councilor (EELV)
Asked by
Le Figaro
, municipal councilor Simon Citeau (EELV), deputy of the Doulon-Bottière district, evokes
“a classic procedure”
.
“No acceleration is requested or initiated, and there is no scheduled expulsion,”
he assures.
“Our policy consists of finding the means to eliminate these slums, in consultation with the residents
,” affirms the elected official, who announced on Friday the future development of two temporary integration sites and a stabilization site for the populations.
Announcements in line with the wishes of the metropolitan environmental group, which announced in January that it wanted to bring about
“transitional and infill urban planning”
on the ZAC.
Welcoming
“cautiously”
the encouraging proposals from the metropolis, the Sauvons les Gohards collective, opposed to the concerted development zone, still asks to see.
“We demand the suspension of the eviction order pending dignified rehousing solutions in the ZAC,”
they underlined in a press release released on Monday.
Also read: Nantes: 2 young repeat offenders defy justice and are released
“Illegal occupations” in question
Supported by Nantes Métropole Aménagement, the Doulon-Gohards ZAC intends to create an “eco-district” on 180 hectares of market gardening wasteland on the outskirts of the city.
The project plans the construction of 2,500 to 3,000 housing units as well as the emergence of five urban farms.
The artificialization of land caused by the work, however, requires the creation of compensation sectors, in order to preserve the imperative of “zero net artificialization” of the soil.
However, some of these compensation lands are inhabited today.
By the Roma.
It is unfair to mistreat these people to this extent, simply because they have a different lifestyle.
Esther Le Cordier, Save the Gohards collective
“Despite their promises of consultation, these slums and their occupants are completely ignored by the authorities, who limit themselves to paying lip service to the existence of “illegal occupations” of land,”
says Margaux Medkour, from the Sauvons les Gohards collective.
“We only discovered the danger hovering over these dwellings by studying the maps ourselves;
no one deigned to inform us even though the project for this ZAC has been in development for years,”
adds his comrade Alice.
“All this is all the more aberrant as the populations of these slums are perfectly integrated into society, work, pay their taxes, send their children to school. It is unfair to mistreat these people to this extent, simply because they have a different way of life,”
also regrets Esther Le Cordier, also from the Sauvons les Gohards collective.
Despite ongoing appeals to the Nantes administrative court and the Council of State, the first work on the ZAC began this winter.
They should continue until 2034.