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.

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 Park de Bellevile. Meanwhile, the platform Le Revers de la Medaille denounced a ‘social cleansing’ having place in Paris, with evictions of homeless people who were pushed outside the city and relocated in other regions of France, in order to ‘prepare’ the city for the Olympics Games.

The Maison des Métallos were supposed to host the chinese delegation during the Olympics, so after the occupation they started to negotiate with the City Council. With the slogan Pas de logement, Pas de JO (No housing, No Olympic Games), the teenagers claimed for the right to decent housing, education and access to the health system.

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