“In application of a court decision introduced by the town hall of Toulouse, the 116 occupants of the Saint-Sernin gymnasium in Toulouse were evacuated this morning,” explained the Haute-Garonne prefecture in a press release, specifying that the The operation “lasted 45 minutes” and “took place peacefully and smoothly”.
On Wednesday, a judge ordered the expulsion of these migrants who had settled in this gymnasium the previous Saturday, after having been expelled the day before from a building at Paul-Sabatier University, where there were more than 200 of them. to be accommodated since December 2022. 267 people were in fact evacuated on February 23 from the building they illegally occupied within the university.
“All the occupants of the university squat had been the subject of an individual assessment in situ by the State services and the departmental council, within the framework of their respective competences.
Those who were eligible for support (vulnerable people or minors) were offered emergency accommodation or an appointment with the administration responsible for their situation, in order to begin administrative procedures. the prefecture then specified.
This time, the judge considered that "the occupation in question obstructed the functioning of the public education service, and that of the development of sports and physical education activities, as well as the normal use of this dependency”.
“A hundred people find themselves on the street”
According to a volunteer, the police carried out the expulsion “shortly before 6 a.m.” by breaking a door at the back of the building of these migrants who are all “unaccompanied minors”.
“A hundred people find themselves on the street without the slightest offer of rehousing,” he lamented.
The migrants who occupied the Saint-Sernin gymnasium were evacuated at dawn by the police in #Toulouse pic.twitter.com/qYKg9DuMEU
— La Dépêche 31 (@ladepeche31) March 1, 2024
On site, around thirty young people with their belongings were still in front of the gymnasium around 8:30 a.m., noted an AFP photographer.
In a tweet on the that “the basic problem remains unresolved”.
This morning, the Saint-Sernin gymnasium, illegally occupied for almost a week, was liberated without clash or violence.
While I would like to thank the prefecture and the police for their speed and efficiency, I cannot ignore the fact that the underlying problem remains...
— Jean-Luc Moudenc (@jlmoudenc) March 1, 2024
“It is up to the State to enforce the rules of stay on our soil, that is to say to expel people illegally present and to offer emergency accommodation for those who have the right to do so,” he said.
“It is up to the department to ensure the reception of unaccompanied minors when they are truly minors,” he added.