The scenes of misery and degradation, so frequent in the Paris region, should not take away the shine of the Olympic Games, which will open in exactly one hundred days. The eviction and expulsion operations of the homeless, whether they are French citizens or foreigners in an irregular situation, are accelerating in the French capital despite criticism from humanitarian NGOs, who denounce a true "social cleansing."
The latest large-scale action to rush to Paris took place yesterday in the town of Vitry-sur-Seine, in the Marne Valley department, on the southern outskirts of the metropolis. The prefecture mobilized 250 police officers to remove the remaining homeless from a former disused factory, described as the largest illegally occupied structure in France. It is believed that around 450 people had found refuge there in recent years, some of whom left the place before the operation upon learning that they would be forcibly evicted.
The same pattern has been repeated in recent months. The associations that deal with helping the homeless have already counted more than thirty operations in one year. One of them took place in an old cement factory on the island of Saint-Denis, very close to the Olympic Village, where about 500 people lived poorly. Those affected include a very wide range of people, ranging from homeless French people, non-EU migrants, with or without a residence permit, refugees and even sex workers who carry out their activity on the street. Some of these people even work, although their low income or social profile prevents them from renting a home.
“The undesirables” was recently the headline of the Libération newspaper, which dedicated four pages to the problem. The newspaper regretted that an attempt is being made to “septicize” the city before the summer. Le Monde also gave extensive coverage to the phenomenon, although it recalled that it is a common sin of Olympic venues, and mentioned precedents such as Vancouver or Atlanta.
Paris suffers from an endemic problem of marginalization and drugs, especially the trafficking and consumption of crack, the cocaine of the poor. The City Council and the Ministry of the Interior, impotent, have often limited themselves to moving people from one neighborhood to another, to dismantling camps to tolerate their re-emergence in other areas. On this occasion, before the Olympic Games, the trips have been greater, to other cities, often without the approval of their authorities and without the necessary coordination or help.
The concealment of poverty does not prevent Paris, so close to the Games, from offering other deficiencies inappropriate for the capital of a developed country and member of the G-7. It is enough to drive along the peripheral highway or other roads to see that there are many sections in poor condition, poorly signposted and illuminated – including tunnels –, in addition to countless barriers due to bogged down construction sites and abundant garbage.
However, the real headache is not the photo of misery but the terrorist threat. President Macron admitted a few days ago, for the first time openly, that the ambitious opening ceremony, with a parade of delegations of athletes in boats along the Seine, could be replaced by an alternative ceremony in the Trocadero area or in the stadium Olympic. He later revealed that, in reality, there is no well-prepared plan B and that, in that case, the lavish river parade will be replaced by a very minimalist and almost improvised ceremony.
