France police clear migrant camps ahead of Olympic games

French authorities have been conducting evictions of migrants and refugees from areas in the capital Paris, apparently in preparation for the country’s hosting of the Olympic Games in three months.

In recent weeks, police and gendarmes in Paris have been seen entering and clearing makeshift camps located throughout the city, such as the Vitry-sur-Seine area in the southern suburbs. Until then, that camp was the largest in Paris, having been home to around 450 migrants.

According to reports and activists, the police are taking such action directly with the aim of clearing the city for the Paris Olympic Games scheduled from 26 July to 11 August, only three months away. Aid workers have criticised the campaign, however, expressing concerns over the fate of the migrants and refugees who are forced to again fend for themselves and find shelter.

France: Migrants stage protest, demand residency permit

Particularly troubling for them is that those evicted are reportedly not provided longer-term housing assistance by authorities, with reports stating that buses were seen waiting outside the camps to transport them to specially allocated sites in cities such as Orleans or Bordeaux, or at least in the wider Paris region.

Authorities in Paris have denied that the “clean-up operations” are due to the Olympics, however, with the police claiming that they are being carried out for security reasons such as schools being nearby.

France’s Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera was also quoted by Associated Press as saying that “it has nothing to do with the Olympics” as the policies “were implemented before the Games, they will be implemented after the Games.” She added that “we want to handle those difficult situations with the best possible humanity. This is why we work with the aid groups. We really want to make things as fair as they can be.”

Read: The tragedy of being a refugee on earth