Five people accommodated after a failed attempt to open a squat in the Meinau
Faced with the increase in the population in the homeless camps and the lack of solutions, a collective of people trying to occupy an empty building. The police evacuated the building of the social landlord Ophéa, which had to be demolished. Plus five people will have a solution for future nights.
“The hotel on rue 2” only existed for a few hours. A group of people temporarily took possession of an empty three-storey building at 12 rue Eugène Imbs, in La Meinau on Wednesday, September 8. But at the end of the afternoon, he was evacuated by the national police. The intervention required the use of gas to remove the last individuals present.
It was an empty building owned by social landlord Ophéa (ex-Cus Habitat), doomed to be demolished. The building no longer has electricity, heating or running water. His pieces present a variable state, sometimes correct or sometimes very dilapidated. The presence of pieces of glass on the ground made installation difficult. The first occupants hoped to house “around thirty people”.
At midday, about fifteen people, including a few families, were present in front of the building. Either to assess the possibility of staying asleep, or volunteers who wish to help set up the squat.
A day of discussions
After a long afternoon of negotiations between the occupants and those in charge of Ophéa, and in particular its president Salah Koussa, the Communal Center for Social Action (CCAS) of the City of Strasbourg took care of 5 homeless people, including a couple. Three experiences so far in the camp for people at rue de la Montagne Verte, and two were sleeping in cars. “We managed to have a roof for 5 people thanks to our action”, positive Edson Laffaiteur, one of the people involved in this occupation. The former homeless man had originally been the Hôtel de la rue (in the process of closing, see our articles) in Koenigshoffen in the summer of 2019. He has since trained as a mediator in Nancy, where he now resides. This young collective does not intend to stop at this opening of an empty building in Strasbourg.
At the beginning of September, more than 100 people, mainly asylum seekers, live in tent camps, in particular at Montagne Verte. Salah Koussa adds for his part that “the question of additional and immediate places will be raised during the municipal council of September 20. ”