REPORTAGE – The squat which housed 450 migrants was evacuated 100 days before the opening ceremony, during a major police intervention. The site is now closely monitored to prevent any reformation of the camp.
Wedged between Vitry-sur-Seine and Alfortville, a column of traveler caravans extends along a busy road. Behind the plane trees that border it, we can see the silhouette of the building which was, just a few weeks ago, the largest squat in France. The two communities lived alongside each other, without mixing. “Ah Africans! Yes, we know them, but we have no relationship with them”says a mother met there.
This large iron and glass building housed the premises of the Ouibus company until 2020. Abandoned, it had been taken over in May 2021 by hundreds of foreigners expelled from other Ile-de-France squats, such as that of the former Unibéton site in L’Ile-Saint-Denis, close to the future Olympic athletes’ village. from Paris.
The site, which borders the Seine, housed a population mixing undocumented immigrants, asylum seekers and statutory refugees without housing, according to an official from the United Migrants association. They…
This article is reserved for subscribers. You have 73% left to discover.
Flash sale
€1 per month for 3 months. No commitment.
Already subscribed? Log in
