“OQTFs were distributed and papers confiscated” according to witnesses
A camp located on private land, near the Atlanta waste reception center in Toulouse, was registered on Wednesday, October 6, 2021. Problem: the occupants would not have been informed of this evacuation and their identity papers would have been retained.
“It started at 6 o’clock but I have been there since 8.45 am”, testifies Antoine Bazin, of the Toulouse branch ofUtopia 56. On Wednesday October 6, 2021, a camp located near the Atlanta recycling center, chemin de Gramont in Toulouse, was dismantled. This evacuation, carried out by the Haute-Garonne prefecture, was carried out “at the request of the owners of the land illegally occupied with the support of the police”, she announces in a press release. Forty-nine people were there. The goal put forward by the State services: to secure the occupants of the encampment who “presented a real danger” car located “along the railroad tracks.”
The occupants requested administrative support and a proposal for shelter in a hotel was made. “At this stage, three families have accepted this proposal. A mobile team from the SIAO (number 115) will meet them there within 48 hours in order to assess their administrative situation and, if they meet the conditions, be offered accommodation”, underlines again the prefecture. “They got them back their caravan. There was no violence, on both sides, tells Antoine Bazin before continuing: there before my eyes, they begin to destroy some caravans and makeshift shelters. “
“A lot of people were not aware of this evacuation”
However, practices questioned. According to Antoine Bazin of Utopia 56, “Many people were not aware of this evacuation. Health and social associations either”, he says.
Obligations to Leave French Territory (OQTF) were distributed and papers confiscated.
Same story with Alexandra, interpreter in Romanian language for the people present on the camp. Members of his family are among the occupants evicted on Wednesday morning. She also testifies to this confiscation of identity cards: “They did not give them back. We deprive them of their papers!” The latter is worried about the fate of these people in the camp. “They are expelled from everywhere. They have been there for years and are not stable. The children are in school. They do not always go to the same school”, regrets the one who would like installation areas to be offered to them. “The stake will be not to lose them and to accompany them. There are children there, pregnant women”, testifies Antoine Bazin.
For now, the prefecture has not been able to confirm or deny this withholding of identity papers.
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