before the Paris Olympics, the Defender of Rights will investigate in all directions – Libération

2024-01-29 15:48:20

The collective “The reverse of the medal”, which brings together several associations and NGOs helping vulnerable people living on the streets, believes that the organization of the Paris Olympics is causing a “social cleansing” of the capital.

Enough is enough ? The Defender of Rights, Claire Hédon, announced this Monday, January 29 that she was taking up the situation of students and the homeless before the Paris Olympic Games, which are due to begin at the end of July and which, according to several associations, are causing a form of “social cleansing” of the capital. “There may be a risk for respect for rights and freedoms in a context like that of the Olympic Games, we are vigilant and we will investigate,” she told journalists in Paris, specifying that this self-referral also concerned “freedom to protest” and “the use of artificial intelligence”.

“The way in which homeless people are sent outside of Paris to accommodation centers, the way in which homes are destroyed” while there is “an obligation to re-housing”, all this raises the question of “ the invisibility of undesirables,” said Claire Hédon, whose “recommendations” resulting from this self-referral are expected in April at the earliest.

The collective “The reverse of the medal”, which brings together several associations and NGOs helping vulnerable people living on the street, has been fighting against the Paris Games for several years and is carrying out media actions to draw attention to “the disappearance of solidarity” that global competition would provoke in the streets of the capital.

All the living spaces occupied by migrants, the homeless or even sex workers and which are gradually emptied by the authorities in preparation for the Games, are concerned by the organizations whose last demonstration dates back to mid-December in front of the Sacred -Heart.

Crous students relocated

Furthermore, more than 2,000 students benefiting from Crous must be rehoused during the Paris Games – a decision contested by a student union but confirmed at the end of December by the Council of State, which removed doubts about the legality requisitions of these accommodations in order to accommodate the event staff.

At the end of August, the Paris administrative court suspended in summary proceedings the decision of the Crous to limit occupancy leases for student accommodation to June 30, in view of the Paris 2024 Games. Based on an email from the Crous sent to students in May 2023, the Solidaires union had initiated legal proceedings against the requisition of 3,000 Crous housing units, an organization which notably manages student residences, to accommodate the staff (security forces, caregivers, first aiders, security agents) of the event during the summer of 2024. Seized of an appeal by the Crous Paris, the Council of State ruled on December 30 that there was no need to rule.

Updated at 5:00 p.m. with details of the date on which Claire Hédon will make her “recommendations”.