{"id":1227,"date":"2014-10-22T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-10-22T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/%20rroma.org\/22-10-2014-rroma-settlement-of-bobigny-being-evicted\/"},"modified":"2022-08-04T11:47:25","modified_gmt":"2022-08-04T10:47:25","slug":"22-10-2014-rroma-settlement-of-bobigny-being-evicted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/fr\/22-10-2014-rroma-settlement-of-bobigny-being-evicted\/","title":{"rendered":"22.10.2014 Rroma settlement of Bobigny being evicted"},"content":{"rendered":"

Numerous French \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tnewspapers report about the announced eviction of the Rroma settlement of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBobigny. The settlement, which houses several hundred Rroma, is one of the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\toldest of its kind in the department of Seine-Saint-Denis. It is and was also \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe scene of ongoing debates between the public authorities and organisations \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tworking for the rights of the Rroma. Bobigny was firmly in the hands of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcommunist politicians since 1944. St\u00e9phane de Paoli, the first UDI mayor of the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcity, promised during the election campaign to immediately close down informal \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsettlements if hygiene or safety deficiencies could be determined and to \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tofficially recognise the illegal character of the informal settlements: \u201cThe regional court of Bobigny, competent in \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe matter since the occupied premises were not used publicly, communicated its \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tjudgment on July the 2nd. Relief in the camp of the Roma: the tribunal rejected \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe request of the mayor. \u201cBut five days later, St\u00e9phane de Paoli sent a new \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbailiff to the camp … And in mid-August he issued a decree for eviction, with \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twhich he set at defiance the court\u2019s verdict. He reckoned, I think, that \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\teveryone was on holidays, tells the lawyer Tamara Lowy\u201d\u201d<\/em> (Mouillard\/Piquemal \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t2014). The prefect responsible for social equality, Didier Leschi, says he applied \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe compulsory social diagnosis according to the regulations. The state will \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcontinue to support about a dozen families, who have stable incomes, among \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tothers with social housing. However, V\u00e9ronique Decker, director of the primary \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tschool in Bobigny, criticised the fact that the majority of families, some \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsixty of them, will be on the street after the eviction. The social diagnosis \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tis therefore far from being applied satisfactorily. It is important to emphasise \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthat the forced evacuations of informal settlements complicate a long-term \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tintegration of Rroma immigrants. Due to the forced evictions, the existing \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tproblems and the integration question are simply moved from one location to the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tnext, but not solved. Particularly affected by the evacuations are the children, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twho often visit local schools, and are greatly disturbed in their education. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe rigorous expulsion of Rroma immigrants reflects the unwillingness of the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFrench government to engage in an active, long-term integration policy. Furthermore, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tby the one-sided media focus on the informal settlements it is suggested that \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthere are only Rroma belonging to the lower class, which are poorly educated. However, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe Rroma from the slums \u2013 an estimated 15,000 people \u2013 only represent a \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tminority of the minority in France. According to assessments of the Rroma \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFoundation, 100,000 to 500,000 Rroma live unobtrusively and integrated in \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFrench society. They belong to all social strata and are not perceived by the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFrench media and politics. For fear of discrimination, many of these integrated \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRroma keep their identity a secret. <\/p>\n

Amnesty International \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(2014) points out that the evictions also violate human rights, when the displaced \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpersons are without accommodation after the evacuation. Only a part of the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tresidents were offered alternative accommodation. Amnesty International speaks \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof a third of the current residents. There are primarily those families who \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\thave children in school age. However, many of the accommodations offered are \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tnot suitable to accommodate families, or are very far away from Bobigny (compare \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t20 Minutes France 2014, Mediapart 2014). <\/p>\n

In the early afternoon \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof October the 21st, the inhabitants of the settlement were prompted by a large \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcontingent of riot police to leave the camp. The eviction proceeded quietly, as \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe journalists present state. Towards the evening, a group of around fifty \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRroma, among them many children, gathered on the Place de la Republique in \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tParis, and demonstrated for temporary accommodation. Later that evening, they \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ttook refuge in the hospital Saint-Louis, from where they were also evicted by \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe riot police a little later (Mouillard \/ Hullot-Guiot 2014, Le Monde 2014). \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLe Parisien (2014) complements that several dozen families were able to move \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tinto a Paris gym, as temporary shelter, after 23 o\u2019clock. The gym was provided \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe city government of Paris (compare Fikri 2014, Metronews 2014). <\/p>\n