News | Toulouse: a busy gymnasium to secure accommodation for 39 homeless
Forty people occupied a gymnasium in the center of Toulouse this Sunday evening with the support of several associations to obtain accommodation for 39 homeless people, the majority of whom were children, found an AFP journalist.
“A roof is the law”, could we read on a banner unfurled at the entrance of this gymnasium which is located on the square of the Saint-Sernin basilica, a masterpiece of Romanesque art in the historic center of Toulouse, 500 meters from the square from the Capitol.
“For weeks we had been sleeping in the streets, all over Toulouse. Toulouse is fine, but it is too cold outside. Here, we are better”, tells with a smile Yamna, 43 years old, arrived from Algeria three months ago with her husband and her three children from 7 to 17 years old.
This occupation is supported by several associations of Haute-Garonne, including the DAL (Right to Housing), the Federation of Parents’ Councils (FCPE), the Education Without Borders Network (RESF) or the League of Rights of the Male (LDH).
For the DAL, the authorities “do nothing”, while “these families have been sleeping rough for several weeks”, what “has been confirmed” during a meeting with the Prefecture on Friday evening, motivating the occupation of the gymnasium, further specifies the association.
On the other hand, according to the Prefecture, contrary to what may have happened on other occasions, the DAL did not provide the necessary elements for the“identification of persons” and the event review of their “precise situation”.
It was therefore impossible to consider “to study each administrative situation, which may be different from one person to another or from one family to another”, indicated the Prefecture.