PARIS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th December, 2022) The prefecture of the Ile-de-France region has placed about 800 people who were living in a tent camp in northern Paris in temporary shelters, French broadcaster BFMTV reported on Friday.
Police moved 771 people living in tents in northern Paris to shelters, the report said, noting that most of them came from Afghanistan. This is the third evacuation of this camp in two months. according to the report.
The authorities are placing migrants in gyms or hotels in Paris and the suburbs. Because of the cold weather, the migrants repeatedly demanded accommodation and even blocked traffic on the boulevard La Chapelle, after which they were dispersed by police, BFMTV reported.
Earlier in the day, French newspaper Le Monde reported that a special phone line in Paris, which takes calls from those left on the street, receives 13,500 calls a day, and only 100 people manage to get an overnight stay. According to media reports, authorities do not allocate enough housing to accommodate all migrants and refugees.
At the same time, as Paris Vice Mayor Ian Brossat noted, the centers set aside for Ukrainian refugees are empty, according to the report.
"The state continues to keep vacant spaces at GL Events (the company owning exhibition spaces) for Ukrainians who are not there. And at the same time we ask for a gym. Where is the logic?" Brossat said on Twitter.
In November, Parisian charities appealed to the authorities to provide empty beds at the center, which hosts Ukrainian refugees, to homeless people from other countries. People began demanding access to "Ukrainian centers" for other homeless migrants back in the summer. In July, activists held demonstrations in front of the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles, which at the time served as a shelter for Ukrainian refugees.
According to a Forum refuges association report published in June, the number of refugees and asylum seekers in France in 2021 surged by 28% compared to 2020. A record of over 54,000 people were granted asylum in 2021, the association noted.
The French national reception system for asylum seekers currently has 100,000 places to accommodate refugees. French authorities have allocated 10,000 places for refugees in temporary accommodation centers.
In September, the French government announced that the 2023 budget would create an additional 5,900 places in shelters for refugees and asylum seekers in various operational housing centers.
