Over the last 10 days, in four separate operations, French police have demolished make-shift migrant camps in northern Paris; the operations, say the city authorities, are part of their efforts to bring everyone indoors during the coldest months of the year. But some 800 migrants are thought to still be sleeping rough on the streets and many people are being missed, or ejected by the system.
Migrants seeking asylum in Paris will be able to receive free legal aid from students at the prestigious Professional Bar School through a program set to begin next week. The students will help with tasks such as writing up statements, and preparing for interviews with the refugee office or for court hearings. The initiative is aimed as much at providing vulnerable migrants with essential legal help, as it is at sensitizing the country’s future lawyers to the situation of asylum seekers.
For the past two years, volunteers from the Midis du Mie association have been meeting with minors who have been denied access to the child protection system because they can’t prove that they are underage. The volunteers try every day to best meet the needs of this particularly vulnerable population - from handing out meals to helping with administrative issues and accommodation.
The French region that encompasses Parisn has announced the creation of 1,200 new accommodation places for migrants before the end of September. The goal is to avoid migrants setting up tent camps and sleeping rough.
Protests by some residents in a Paris neighborhood resulted in the postponement of the opening of a migrant reception centre for hundreds of migrants in the French capital.
In the La Chapelle neighborhood in the north of Paris, hundreds of migrants live in deplorable conditions. There are many young men among them, but also minors and families with little children. They live alongside crack addicts who were themselves displaced when police cleared their makeshift encampment earlier this summer. This is the account of a day in a neighborhood marked by despair.
Seventeen minors are currently being detained in Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, according to Anafé, an organization that helps migrants trapped at the border.
Earlier this month, a group of refugees in Paris performed the play Britannicus, which tells the story of the destructive Roman Emperor Nero and his plot to kill his brother. Montasser Idhhiba, a 24-year-old Libyan, played Nero. He spoke to InfoMigrants about his experience playing this role.
Photographer Abdul Saboor never stopped taking pictures on the long road that led him from Afghanistan to France. Now living in Paris, Saboor recently had the opportunity to exhibit his work at the French Ministry of Culture. InfoMigrants met this young man who, despite his success as an artist, is still struggling to surmount the traumatism of having to flee his homeland.
French police evacuated two migrant camps near the Canal Saint Martin and Porte de la Chapelle in northern Paris on Monday morning, less than a week after clearing out a another larger migrant camp. Many of the people who have been evacuated are worried about their futures. Under EU legislation, they could be sent back to the first EU country that they entered and, in some cases, deported to their countries of origin.
If you are in Paris or the surrounding region and you want to claim asylum in France, then, from May 2, you will need to book an initial appointment by calling a special call center run by the French Office for Immigration and Integration. It is open Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at 0800 144 414.
There has been an increase in the number of LGBT people applying for asylum in France over the past few years. Several French associations, founded to help LGBT people in France, have had to adapt their services to help this particularly vulnerable group, many of whom are victims of discrimination and physical violence.