Police remove migrants from central Paris square ahead of the Olympics
Police in Paris have removed about 50 migrants, including families with young children, from the Paris City Hall plaza as the capital prepares to mark 100 days to the start of the Olympic Games
PARIS (AP) — French police on Wednesday removed dozens of migrants, including families with young children, from the forecourt of Paris City Hall as the capital prepares to mark 100 days to the start of the Olympic Games.
Police arrived at dawn to remove about 50 people, mostly women and children aged 3 months to 10 years, who were bundled up in strollers, under blankets or covered with plastic sheets to shield against the rain while sleeping in the plaza. The migrants packed belongings and boarded a bus to temporary local government housing in the town of Besançon in eastern France.
Aid workers are concerned that the move Wednesday is the beginning of a broader effort by Paris authorities to clear out migrants and others sleeping in the rough in the capital before the summer Olympics without providing longer-term housing options.
“They’re clearing the way for the Olympic Games,” Yann Manzi, a member of the migrant aid group Utopia 56, told The Associated Press during Wednesday’s police operation in central Paris. “What is happening is nothing short of social cleansing of the city.”
