Social workers and volunteers present at Tuesday’s evacuation of the rue des Palais squat have called out the "calamitous and misleading management" of the authorities. Despite promises, several hundred people were not taken care of at the end of the operation and risk a police operation on Wednesday, they said in a statement, denouncing the "shameful fiasco".
"While the municipal and regional authorities announced at midday that the evacuation was ‘over’ and that only a few people were left waiting for a solution, the reality was that around 250 to 300 people were not being taken care of at the end of the afternoon on Tuesday," stress social workers and volunteers.
According to them, these hundreds of people, despite holding a ‘blue bracelet’ (attesting that they lived in the building), waited all day "without information, without food and without consideration". It was only around 15:00 that they were given water and waffles, distributed by voluntary associations, before finally returning inside the building.
"Once again, the authorities are not taking fulfilling their responsibilities. How is it possible to prepare such an important operation with so much amateurism?", asked a volunteer, Sacha, who also said that while it was widely known that over 700 people were staying in the building, only 250 were taken and provided for.
Tweet translation: Doctors of the World during the evacuation of asylum seekers of Rue des Palais: "The evacuation can be summed up in two words: chaotic and inadequate. Since this morning, people have been left in the rue des Palais without being helped."
"It is unacceptable to show such little consideration for the people housed in this unsanitary and overcrowded environment. Furthermore, how is it possible to then report to the media a ‘successful’ operation in which all people were rehoused? This is simply a lie", Sacha said.
On Wednesday, social workers and volunteers will continue to mobilise, in anticipation of a possible police operation. "If there is no solution and the Palais building has to close, opening a new squat will be the only possible solution," the volunteer concluded.
