During the night from Monday to Tuesday, a fire broke out at the Denuzière squat in Caluire, several people were seriously injured, and one person died. The victims were accommodated for one night – just one – at the Lachaise gymnasium, before being expelled.
This morning, the prefect was on site with the police and brought out the 100 affected people. Only 47 people received an offer of accommodation, a single week in a hotel… The others are back on the streets, in the middle of winter, despite the cold, the trauma and the injuries from the fire. Some of the people’s belongings are still locked inside the building. Faced with this situation, the former residents of the Denuzière squat decided to spontaneously gather in front of the prefecture to demand at least shelter.
But clearly no time for mourning or resistance. As this morning’s gathering ended, those still present were abruptly chased away by the CRS and the PAF in order to carry out identity checks (without hesitating to sort between people supposed to be French and those supposed to be foreigners to streamline the operation). Three people were arrested and taken to the PAF2 people went out in the afternoon.
Since the incident, politicians and the press have tried to shift the blame for the tragedy onto the squatters and their supporters, but the reality is that we leave people on the streets, many undocumented, to fight for being able to find refuge in sometimes unsanitary and dangerously deadly buildings rather than rehousing them in dignified living conditions.
We’ll take time to say more later. Because there are lots of words of rage and sadness stuck in people’s throats. All of this is indecent and unspeakably violent.
