young migrants deported to the west of Toulouse, along the ring road
Since 7:30 a.m. this Friday morning, the CRS have been appointed before theformer Ehpad des Tourelles to the west of Toulouse, along the bypass. A hundred young people have been living there for more than two years. Young migrants who mostly come from West Africa. A diversion is in place at 97 avenue de Lardenne.
A few people slightly injured
The police asked the migrants, almost only men, to leave their rooms in the early morning. They gathered in the outer courtyard of the building. The atmosphere became tense, the CRS used tear gas around 10 a.m. Four migrants were slightly injured, according to our reporter present on the spot. One had a sprain, another a chin injury, another a slight leg injury; many had red eyes from the gas.
“I’m lost, I’m in the street, I don’t know where I’m going to sleep. Already here, we live very difficultly, we only eat once a day.” — Junior, a young migrant
The young migrants came out chanting “Liberté”, then many sat on the ground, on the avenue de Lardenne, distraught. Junior is one of them: “They asked everyone to take their things and get out. We all got together and said, we want freedom, fraternity, equality. That’s what we were told that there was in France […] I’m shocked, I’m lost, I don’t even know where I’m going to sleep.”
Deportation following a court decision but…
A court decision dating from the beginning of last May asked them to leave the premises. The town hall of Toulouse had made these places available, this former Ehpad, but the CCAS of Toulouse (communal center for social action) had seized the administrative court of Toulouse in summary proceedings at the end of April to recover the premises and put an end to this experiment. The CCAS pointed to incidents, violence in 2021 in this establishment; facts disputed by the associations. The young migrants had twenty days to move. This place must become a reception center for pregnant women and mothers of young children in great precariousness.
Who should find accommodation for these migrants? The question is in particular whether they are minors or adults. They are unaccompanied minors, assure the AutonoMIE collective which accompanies them. According to the Department of Haute-Garonne, only 3 are minors. The prefecture of Haute-Garonne claims to have formulated a proposal for relocation to these migrants from Les Tourelles, which the associations deny.
Maître Benjamin Francos, a lawyer from Toulouse who defended some thirty of these young migrants before the administrative court, is indignant at the conditions of this expulsion, which according to him was not carried out according to the rules: “The judge had demanded proposals for rehousing, they were never provided”. And he adds “At the time of the judgment, 25 young people out of the hundred occupants had been recognized as minors and were waiting for a place from the Childhood Social Aid. We know that of the remaining 3/4, 70 to 90 % were going to be represented. So we put minors on the street by exposing them to violence, physical and psychological insecurity, they will experience wandering in the streets of Toulouse.”
We put minors on the street by exposing them to violence and insecurity. – Master Benjamin Francos, lawyer from Toulouse
A night on the street?
A rally is planned for this Friday, at 6 p.m. on the Jules Guesde alleys, at the call of the “Autonomie” collective, which supports these young people. On its facebook page, this collective says it needs tents, duvets, hygiene products, foodstuffs. “Many will most certainly sleep several nights outside”, confides a member of this collective.