Paris Olympics: A Celebration That Is 'Not for Everyone'

The presence of hundreds of refugees and homeless individuals in Paris, which sometimes provoked violent confrontations with the police, had become a problem for French authorities even before the 2024 Olympic Games began. Le Monde, the most important French-language newspaper published in Paris, reported that although French officials have created 216 permanent accommodation places for refugees and the homeless in the French capital, what occurred during the two weeks of the Olympics was nothing but a worsening of conditions for the 'most vulnerable individuals.' The newspaper reported that just a few minutes away from the Olympic Village, a symbolic location for this year's Olympic Games, hundreds of people in the 19th arrondissement of Paris are waiting in very unstable conditions for a warm meal. A 46-year-old Algerian told Le Monde, 'Look how beautiful and clean France is. France of the Olympics, France of tourists, but around it, there is something we prefer not to see: people like me whose lives do not change.' In this area, a charity kitchen prepares food for refugees. Most of those who come for food are men, without identification documents, and homeless. Pauline Duhot, one of the officials of this charity, told Le Monde that she has not observed a decrease in the number of people since the start of the Olympics. She says, 'We are still serving 700 to 800 meals per shift, we see new people, and significantly fewer unaccompanied children.' Since early June, a month before the Olympics, about fifty tents have been set up in the Bastille square in Paris, and last Tuesday, August 6, about a hundred homeless people joined this camp established by the 'Housing Rights' association on the sidelines of the Olympic Games. AFP reported that the number of homeless and refugees in this square has now increased to about 200. French officials have repeatedly stated that they intend to turn the entire city of Paris into a venue for the Olympic celebrations, but Ian Manzi, the founder of an immigrant support association, told French media, 'This celebration is not for everyone.' Some of these homeless individuals are waiting to receive social housing from the government. The housing crisis in recent years in France has led to an increase in the eviction of tenants from homes and rising rents. While the number of social housing units is not sufficient to meet the number of applicants for such homes, the media continuously report an increase in empty houses and residential buildings whose owners are unwilling to rent out their properties. A 28-year-old Senegalese man, who lived in a dormitory, was forced to leave his dormitory after getting married. This kitchen worker, who is waiting for a residency permit, told AFP, 'Since then, my wife, who is seven months pregnant, and I have been sleeping in a garage.' Human rights advocates have warned about 'social cleansing' in Paris ahead of the Olympic Games. According to the latest report from the Abbé Pierre Foundation published in February, evictions of tenants due to rent in 2022 reached a record of 17,500 people. According to figures cited by AFP, last autumn, more than 8,300 people, including 2,800 minors, called the French emergency number 115 every day, requesting placement in an emergency center. This figure was 6,300 people during the same period the previous year. Meanwhile, the demand for social housing is at its highest, with 2.6 million households on the waiting list for such housing, which has very low rents. For months, human rights organizations have warned about the eviction of homeless individuals and refugees from Paris ahead of the Olympic Games. In April, a police operation in Paris to remove refugees from a tunnel in the 12th arrondissement became controversial, and French officials stated that the gathering of refugees in such places increases risks such as fire. However, human rights activists warned that French authorities do not have the right to transfer refugees from Paris to other cities without any specific plan under the pretext of holding the Olympic Games in the city. Jila Parentis, a member of the United Refugees NGO, said, 'It is clear that since the beginning of preparations for the Olympic Games, there has been an effort to remove refugees from Paris or a kind of social cleansing to welcome tourists and hold the Games.' Despite the establishment of permanent accommodation places, on July 25, more than 300 people who camped in front of the district 18 town hall in Paris to request shelter. French officials accommodated some of them, but the human rights organization Utopia 56 reported that about a hundred remained on the streets.