In total, 18 sites have been identified as camps in Val-de-Marne, on zac in the making, near motorways, more or less large wasteland in Sucy-en-Brie, Valenton, Fresnes, Choisy- le-Roi, Villejuif, L’Haÿ-les-Roses, Vitry-sur-Seine, Ivry-sur-Seine, Fontenay-sous-Bois, Créteil… Like all precarious populations, confinement has weakened their living conditions.
Food raids with the Red Cross
In this context, marauding has been organized for three weeks by the Red Cross at the request of the prefecture of Val-de-Marne. “The prefecture gives us service checks and our volunteers do the shopping at the start of the week, palletize on Wednesdays and distribute in 16 sites on Thursday and Friday. In total, this represents 8 to 10 tonnes of food distribution per week ”, indicates Hervé Pilet, spokesperson for the Red Cross of Val-de-Marne. Logistics that mobilize 50 volunteers per week. “We will continue until the end of containment.” Bottles of water when there is no drinking water point on site, milk, oil, pasta, green beans, baby diapers, baby milk, hygiene… So many basic necessities.
Covid cluster country a priori
For the moment, no outbreak of contagion to the Covid 19 coronavirus has been reported in one site. “Two people were identified as sick and taken to hospital. They did not stay, however. People are also made aware of the renewal of prescriptions in pharmacies ”, according to the prefecture, which states that a specific sanitary marauder is being set up with the operator First Health Emergency.
Romeurope sues in 4 cities
For the Romeurope 94 collective, several slums do not however have basic hygiene conditions and the collective has taken legal action against the prefecture of Val-de-Marne and the mayors of Choisy-le-Roi, L’Haÿ-les-Roses. , Villejuif and Vitry-sur-Seine to the Administrative Court of Melun to order them to create drinking water points, install toilets and structures for washing, as well as containers for garbage and the organization of their collection .
In Choisy-le-Roi, where the camp is located rue de Lugo, the prefecture explained the lack of access to drinking water because of the A 86 motorway while the town insisted on its commitment to deliver a tank of 1000 liters of drinking water and meals via an association.
In L’Haÿ-les-Roses, the shantytown is located on the point Paul Hochart which will accommodate a school group in order to transfer the school located in place of the future Grand Paris Express station. The prefecture argued for the provision of water bottles and the organization of waste collection soon. The municipality recalled that “The people occupying this camp have all the amenities nearby to lead a dignified life”.
In Villejuif, where the families settled at Fort de la Redoute, near the Hautes Bruyères park, the town said it had provided a water tank on avenue Jean Jaurès and requested a connection on avenue de la République. “The facilities available to the occupants are sufficient to enable them to wash themselves and it has not been demonstrated that the installation of latrines would be necessary”, indicates the municipality in its defense.
Finally, in Vitry-sur-Seine, the prefecture and town have ensured that access to drinking water already existed and that waste collection was also effective. “The absence of latrines is not demonstrated and there are sanisettes near the camp”, also indicated the city.
Municipalities and the prefecture also recalled the illegal nature of the installations in their defense brief.
3 cities and the prefecture ordered to act urgently
In its order issued on Monday, April 20, the Administrative Court rejected the request against the city of Vitry-sur-Seine but ordered the prefect and the mayors of the other three municipalities to take measures within 48 hours.
“We were led to carry out this procedure because since the beginning of the health crisis, while we had alerted the prefecture and the mayors concerned about the situation of people living in these unsanitary places, nothing has been put in place. The health crisis situation is experienced head-on by everyone, but the most vulnerable people are all the more fragile because they are ignored by the State services and the municipalities. Food aid arrived late and not everywhere. Often the citizens themselves mobilized their networks in order to provide a minimum of food for families while waiting for the passage of the Red Cross or associations mandated by the Prefecture ”, motivates Romeurope 94 while indicating to be “Perplexed” as to the non-conviction of Vitry-sur-Seine and reflect on what to do next. “There is a water point, waste collection is organized and monitoring is organized with the CCAS”, says one in town hall of Vitry. The city of Villejuif, for its part, recalls the provision of tons of water as well as a stock of bottles to keep “several months”. The municipality also points out that this is state land and suggests that it apply to the Departmental Council, owner of the nearby Hautes Bruyères park, to allow access to toilets.
In a press release published this Thursday afternoon on his Facebook page, the mayor of Choisy-le-Roi, Didier Guillaume (PCF), details the actions carried out in the slum.
Anger of the mayor in L’Haÿ-les-Roses
In L’Haÿ-les-Roses, the mayor, Vincent Jeanbrun, denounces a “Unfair judgment” and considers having been “Dropped by the state”. “At the start of this camp, we managed to contain its growth in connection with the L’Haÿ-les-Roses police station. We would regularly come and remove the new barracks that had been built illegally in the previous 48 hours. But in February, well before the start of confinement, the national police suddenly received the order not to intervene. I wrote to the préfet but never got a response. Since then, the camp has only grown. There are new installations regularly and the space is large enough to accommodate many more. On site, a real open-cast foundry was created to recover metals. And there is plenty to do because the occupants are working to dismantle the disused building that was rented to L’Oréal floor by floor. This threatens to pollute the soil again when the decontamination of the old Total station was completed. This site should accommodate the future school group to replace the school which is located at the location of the future Grand Paris Express station. Without this new school group, there will be no station!”Warns the elected representative who denounces the court injunction at the request of “Provide for free” the access services requested, “At the taxpayer’s expense, while the presence of this illegal encampment is due to the inaction of the state.”
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For her part, Aline Poupel, spokesperson for Romeurope 94, denounces the city’s inaction. “We wrote to them twice, in January and then in early March, without ever getting a response. I know these families well because some have previously been to Choisy, Bonneuil-sur-Marne or Vitry. We have taken steps to send the children to school and five of them started going there one or two weeks before the start of confinement. We wanted to add 5-6 more but the context complicated things. For food aid, volunteers from Romeurope go to the solidarity grocery store in Villejuif ”, details the associative activist. According to the counts of the various associations which intervene, the number of people who live in this slum are between 80 and 130. “There is no drinking water on site but we distribute the equivalent of 1.5 liters of water per person per day as well as food and hygiene products”, indicates Hervé Pilet for the Red Cross.
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