Ahead of 2024 Olympics, France evicts hundreds of migrants from abandoned Paris warehouse

The abandoned office building, which was France’s biggest squat, had been home to up to 450 migrants, most of them documented but awaiting social housing

Charities have accused the authorities of seeking to clear homeless people from the French capital to make it look better for the Games from July 26 to August 11

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French gendarmes stand guard next to migrants leaving for another location, during the evacuation of France’s biggest squat. Photo: AFP

Published: 9:33pm, 17 Apr 2024Updated: 10:16pm, 17 Apr 2024

French authorities on Wednesday evicted hundreds of migrants from a squat in a southern suburb of Paris with just 100 days to go until the Olympics, encouraging them to board buses to other parts of France.

Charities have accused the authorities of seeking to clear homeless people from the French capital to make it look better for the Games from July 26 to August 11.

The abandoned office building in Vitry-sur-Seine had been home to up to 450 migrants, most of them documented but awaiting social housing, according to non-governmental organisations who visited to help them.

Last year, authorities cleared out migrants from nearby the Olympic Village, and many displaced people came here

Paul Alauzy, health monitoring coordinator

“The squat was the biggest in France. It doubled in size in one year because of the Olympics. Last year, authorities cleared out migrants from nearby the Olympic Village, and many displaced people came here,” said Paul Alauzy of the humanitarian organisation Médecins du Monde, who has been closely following the steady pace of evictions over two years. The conditions inside the warehouse were cramped, Alauzy said.

“There are spaces in shelters near Paris, but clearly they want to move them away from the capital. Especially before the Olympics,” said Alauzy.

The clearance operation will continue over several days. The site is empty: 150 people left the night before the police arrived, while 300 were evicted before 8am. Wednesday morning. Among the 450 were 20 children and 50 women, the aid group said.

Clutching their belongings in bags, suitcases or trolleys, the roughly 300 people who had remained left calmly on Wednesday morning under the eye of police in riot gear, looking worried about their next step.