Wednesday February 28, at the administrative court of Toulouse, a hearing must decide on the expulsion, ordered by the mayor Jean-Luc Moudenc, of 200 unaccompanied minors who occupy a school gymnasium in the city center, since their expulsion from Paul University Sabatier a few days earlier. M., an unaccompanied minor of Malian origin, attended the hearing which left little doubt as to the judge’s authorization of expulsion.
At the exit of the court, unaccompanied minors threatened with expulsion and their supporters wait for the verdict on the square. A police car and four police officers are present on the other side of the road. An activist from AutonoMIE, the collective of unaccompanied minors and their supporters, describes M. “stressed by the presence of the police” and “shocked since the dismissal of his minority appeal and the expulsion from the university”. M., while remaining on the other side of the road, exchanges words with the police officers who are getting out of their vehicle. Then M. falls into tears, gets angry and throws his phone which lands on the door of the police car. He was immediately arrested and taken on board.
The same evening, M. received an OQTF (Obligation to leave French territory) and was placed in CRA. Tuesday February 5, the administrative court ruled in favor of its maintenance in CRA. The judge relied on a report from the Border Police (PAF) which issued an unfavorable opinion on the validity of M.’s documents, and on the dismissal of his minority appeal. However, M. appealed this dismissal and his recognition of minority is still possible. M. will spend a minimum of 28 days in the CRA in deplorable conditions and risks expulsion from French territory. In addition to M, selon Mediapart Five other young people are also placed in administrative detention. A repression and criminalization which is a continuation of that which these young people have been experiencing for several months now on the part of the French State.
During a rally against evictions which brought together more than 300 people and demonstrated the beginnings of resistance to the eviction policy led by the mayor of Toulouse Jean-Luc Moudenc, Friday March 1, a Toulouse Anti Cra activist ( TAC) recalled the central role of the CRA in the repression of immigrants. A role that has become even more important since the promulgation of the Immigration law.
Indeed, the law provides for the construction of 10 new CRAs in the territory, in addition to the 28 existing ones. It also plans to reduce the time between two placements in CRA from 7 to 2 days, to increase the validity period of an OQTF from 1 to 3 years, to limit the possibilities of defense against OQTFs, or even to facilitate expulsions in the event of a “threat to public order”.
All these measures, which are added to the extension of the maximum period of detention in CRA from 45 to 90 days voted in 2018, will have the consequence of facilitating the repression of foreigners and worsening the “continuum of confinement” (back and forth between prison and the CRA), denounced by numerous associations.
As the TAC activist explained, “the CRAs are prisons for people who do not have the right papers, where they suffer racist humiliation and violence from the Border Police (PAF)”. Indeed, the CRAs are zones where everything is permitted and are used to detain and discipline foreigners, before expelling them from the territory.
Prisoners there suffer police violence, like this police officer who was recently convicted for sticking his thumbs in the eyes of a prisoner at the CRA in Toulouse, in November 2022->https://www.streetpress.com/sujet/1706176119-policier-condamne-enfonce-yeux-etranger-centre-retention-violences-policieres]. Added to this are very harsh living conditions such as the policy of the “chemical straitjacket” (insertion of psychotropic drugs in food) or food deprivation.
Evictions like the one experienced by the young people of Paul Sabatier continue to increase in Toulouse as everywhere in France in the image of the 400 unaccompanied minors expelled from the banks of the Seine in Paris. State violence which will only increase with the end of the winter break on March 31. While the March 1 rally showed the beginning of united mobilization against the evictions, we must build on this dynamic to demand the release of M., the end of the evictions and demand an immediate sustainable rehousing plan, the removal of all the racist laws and the regularization of all undocumented immigrants.
2024-03-09 01:05:53
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