evening of November 23rd local time, Paris police demolished a newly built refugee camp in the Place du Republique and used tear gas to disperse the crowd. After the relevant pictures and videos were uploaded to the Internet, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanind said This is shocking and the police are asked to explain as soon as possible.
According to the Guardian and AFP, Utopia 56, a charity focusing on the homeless, organized refugees, mostly from Afghanistan, to set up about 500 tents under the statue of the Statue of Peace in the Place de la Republique of Paris on the evening of the 23rd in protest against the northern suburbs of Paris a few days ago. The resulting refugee settlements have been demolished. About an hour later, French police came to demolish the new refugee camp and clashed with the crowd.
In the announcement, Paris police said that an illegal camp was established on the Plaza de la Republique that day, and the police immediately stopped this illegal occupation of public space. It is understood that some of these tents were taken away by the refugees, and the rest were confiscated by the police.
The Guardian reported that at that time, the police used tear gas to attack the crowd, including journalists, during the dispersion. Remy Buisine, a reporter for the online news website Brut, said that he showed his press card and was attacked by the same policeman three times. Shahbuddin, an Afghan, sobbed after being driven out of the tent, “They are too violent. We just want to have a place to live.”
After being expelled from the Place of the Republic, more than 300 people went to the Paris City Hall to spend the night at the City Hall, and were immediately chased and surrounded by the City Hall security forces. These image and video materials have been put on the Internet by the organization, which has caused widespread dissemination.
The French Interior Minister said that the pictures had been seen and the police’s destruction of the refugee camps were “shocking”. I have asked the Chief of Police to submit a detailed explanation by noon tomorrow, and I will respond at that time. The organization then directly demanded the immediate resignation of the police chief and the interior minister.
It is understood that a week ago (November 17), several temporary settlements next to the Stade de France in the northern suburb of Paris, were demolished by the police and the refugees were dispersed. At that time, Utopia 56, a refugee charity, issued a statement that 700-1,000 people were forcibly displaced, so they demanded that the government unconditionally provide 1,000 shelters.
