It was a friend from the hamlet who warned him. When Georges Dematis, 84, came to see his house on his own, he came across a sign written by the squatters themselves: “This place is our home as well as our main residence”, proclaims the text. Aware of the laws supposed to protect them, and which they list, the squatters conclude: “There can be no eviction without an enforceable court decision.”

Now, when this retiree from the IT industry walks past his house to look for his pain, his occupants “taunt him by saying hello”, tells her daughter to Toulouse news. Georges Dematis lives in another house nearby, while it was in the process of being sold for the realization of a real estate project, which plans to raze it.

This is what worries his daughter Marie-Ange, who testifies in the video at the head of the article: the winter break could compromise the sale to a real estate developer, while the building permit has just been obtained after several years of proceedings. “I have two months to fire the squatters otherwise we will have lost everything”, explains Marie-Ange. “Because the promoter told me clearly: ‘if they are not gone, they will give up’.“

During this time, this typical “market garden house” of the Toulouse suburbs, had already been squatted twice: “The first time it was Romanians, then we had Afghans”, indicates his daughter to Figaro. “They arrived each time in October, at the time of the winter break. But we had managed to leave, because the police had intervened within 48 hours.”

Tuesday, October 19, it is therefore a third occupation that began, this time by people who seem perfectly organized. The police moved, but without expelling the squatters, with regard to the regulatory power. It is now up to the prefecture to decide whether or not to take action. If this house no longer meets the criterion of main housing, a secondary amendment voted last October allows the action of the police even in the case of residences.

There remains the trauma of Georges Dematis, facing the occupation of this house where he raised his children, which concerns his daughter Marie-Ange. “My father was already very affected by the idea of ​​the house being demolished, but there, in addition, that it is squatted again, it is really complicated for him.”