Hundreds of individuals who had been sleeping on the streets of Paris, many of them carrying backpacks and young children, boarded buses surrounded by armed police on Thursday. This group of migrants and homeless people is the most recent to be pushed out of the city in advance of the 2024 Olympic opening ceremony, reports Breaking News.
The majority African migrants boarded buses provided by the French government and made their way to the city’s outskirts, where they found temporary housing that would last at least until the conclusion of the Games.
While some of the homeless people were grateful for a place to sleep for the night, few were aware of what would happen when everyone’s attention was diverted from Paris.
It is comparable to poker. In order to preserve her privacy, Nikki, a 47-year-old homeless Parisian, requested that her last name not be published. “I don’t know where I will go, or how much time I will stay,” she added, reports Breaking News.
Prior to the huge international sporting event, which is significant for President Emmanuel Macron at a time of political unrest, French police have been removing homeless and migrant camps for months.
However, the Games have also drawn criticism, with Parisians voicing their displeasure over a range of issues, including increased public transport costs and government expenditure on Seine River cleanup rather than social safety net investments, reports Breaking News.
Authorities have also come under heavy fire for transporting refugees who were sleeping outside the Olympic city core to the outskirts of Paris or other locations.
Migrant organisations and activist organisations have referred to the long-standing practice—which was employed in previous Olympic host cities including Rio de Janeiro in 2016—as “social cleansing.”
According to Nathan Lequeux, an organiser with the protest group Utopia 56, “they want to clean the city for the Olympic Games, for the tourists,” reports Breaking News.
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