NOT A CHILDREN’S GAME

On April 07, 2024, more than 150 young migrants who were surviving in the streets of Paris occupied the Maison des Métallos, a cultural centre located in the 11th arrondissement of Paris, in France.

With the end of the so-called ‘winter truce’, a lot of temporary shelters closed so these teenagers started to camp in Belleville Park, at the 20th arrondissement, creating the collective Jeunes du Parc de Bellevile.

The city was preparing the Olympics Games and the platform Le Revers de la Medaille denounced a ‘social cleansing’ having place in Paris, with evictions of homeless people and relocation in other regions of France.

The Maison des Métallos were supposed to host the Chinese delegation during the Olympics Games. With the slogan Pas de logement, Pas de JO (No housing, No Olympic Games), the teenagers claimed for the right to decent housing, access to education and to the health care.

On July 03, they reached an agreement with the authorities to open a temporary shelter with more than 200 beds.