Nearly 200 police officers have just started the evacuation of crack users from around the Eole gardens.
The decision was taken by the Prefect of Police Didier Lallement in consultation with the Ministry of the Interior.
“I take my responsibilities with regard to the inhabitants and residents.
It is an evacuation in the general interest to avoid a tragedy.
The situation is serious and could not last any longer, ”confides the Parisian prefect this morning.
The system plans to drive drug addicts by bus to the Porte de la Villette square, near the Place Auguste-Baron. A place that had already been considered in the spring to bring together consumers and avoid their dispersion after the evacuation of the gardens unilaterally decided by the mayor of Paris and Anne Hidalgo on June 30. But at the time a first pass of arms had opposed the prefect and the town hall, the first worrying about the risk of dispersal of drug addicts if a fixed place was not determined to accommodate them.
Today and despite repeated criticism, again this week, by Anne Hidalgo who went to the site by once again calling on the State "to act", the prefect indicates "not to have an opinion on the position of Mrs. Hidalgo "and simply assures that" the State takes its responsibilities ".
In reality, it is “his” plan proposed last June that the prefect is in the process of applying.
A place further away from homes
In the hours and days to come, the authorities will therefore endeavor to regroup crack users in a place further away from homes and make their resettlement in the Eole-Riquet-Stalingrad sectors impossible. For weeks, the situation on the spot had become alarming and seemed to worsen day by day: assaults, attempted rapes, daily fights, the residents were fed up with the nuisance under their windows and around schools.
The authorities' desire is therefore to remove drug addicts from places of residence and schools, and above all to settle them in a sector where they will have access to sanitary facilities and where associations can provide them with food.
But this solution is obviously only temporary and it will now be necessary to wait "for the establishment of reception rooms for drug addicts by the town hall of Paris", specifies the prefecture.