Abdourahamane came to Paris from Guinea as a teenager last November, hoping for a better life. Instead he soon found himself sleeping rough in walkways under the bridges that cross the river Seine.
Now he is among a group of several hundred young homeless migrants who have occupied the Gaité Lyrique theatre in the centre of Paris in protest. People bed down on blankets on the floor, often sleeping shoulder to shoulder with others in cramped conditions.
The Gaité Lyrique, a cultural institution that usually hosts literary events, concerts and photography exhibitions, has become the setting of a flashpoint in the growing tensions around how Paris treats its homeless migrants.
The group occupying the century-old building have been left in a status-less kind of limbo in the French immigration system. Abdourahamane claims he is 16years old. However an initial assessment upon his arrival in France ruled he was likely at least 18.
This means he is not entitled to attend school or access benefits such as housing for unaccompanied underage migrants. The other young male migrants in the Gaité Lyrique are in the same position.
“Me, as well as all the guys here, we came here presenting as underage, under 18 years old. We went to an evaluation centre to have an evaluation and be recognised as minors, to enrol in school,” says Abdourahamane, who does not want his surname published.
“But we were rejected as minors during the first evaluation. The law says you can appeal this first decision to a judge. We have to wait, sometimes seven months, eight months, one year, waiting for this appeal,” he says.
The migrants – who have mostly come from Africa – usually end up sleeping rough in doorways or makeshift encampments, as they wait to appeal the determination.
“Some consider them adults, some consider them minors. It is very hard for them to access certain social services. They are left pretty much alone, ‘in the nature’ as we say in France,” says Matthias Bingham from Médecins du Monde, a humanitarian organisation providing medical care to the group in the Gaîté Lyrique.
The occupation of the cultural centre began on December 10th. Left-wing activists from Collectif des Jeunes du Parc de Belleville interrupted a conference about migrant integration and
the protest turned into a full blown occupation, with about 250 young migrants taking over the building. The numbers sleeping inside are believed to have since increased to between 300 and 400 people.
“People are sleeping on the floor, on blankets side by side, it is very densely occupied. It is not a place made to receive people for sleeping, it is a cultural institution. There are only four bathrooms, there are no showers,” says Matthias.
”They can’t see the end of the tunnel for their own situation,” he says.
Paris city administration and the national authorities are trying to shift responsibility for the vulnerable group to each other, he says. “It is a way for them to fight but also kind of push the problem elsewhere, not use any budget for these people.”
In a statement last month, Gaité Lyrique criticised the fact there had been no concrete proposal from either the city or state authority to offer alternative shelter to the migrants occupying the theatre.
“While the number of young people sleeping at the Gaité Lyrique continues to increase, the sanitary conditions are deteriorating day after day,” it said. “Although this occupation is forced, it is unthinkable for the Gaité Lyrique to throw these people out on to the street in the middle of winter.”
The theatre has cancelled its scheduled programme of events indefinitely, which has put the institution under significant financial pressure. The Paris city administration did not respond to requests from The Irish Times to comment on the occupation.
Once a week Médecins du Monde provides medical services to those inside. “There is security, but you can imagine, young men all condensed in the same place, it can sometimes be complicated, especially in a situation where it is very precarious for them,” says Matthias.
“There is a lot of stress, people that are waiting for a court date. They don’t even know when it’s going to be, it can be in one month, it can be six months, it can be a year,” he says.
“The issue is way deeper than these 400 people, because it concerns how France evaluates who is a minor and who isn’t. There is a problem in every region that they just send people to the street, based on a social worker saying who is not 18, based on one interview with them,” he says.
Outside the Gaité Lyrique the adolescents greet each other like old friends as they come in and out of the building. Some hang around on the front steps smoking cigarettes. At a glance many would not look out of place in a group of older teenagers walking home from secondary school.
Abdourahamane says France “stole” the wealth of his country during the period of colonial rule. “That’s why we began our journey, because we speak French and so it is easier for us to come here. We came here for a better future,” he says.
Many involved in the occupation thought it might last a week or two, before the city or state authorities were pressured to do something. It has now been more than two months. The theatre was targeted as the building is owned by the Paris city administration, says Axelle, one of the activists involved in the collective behind the occupation.
The group makes sure some of its volunteers remain inside at all times. “I spent nights in here a lot during December and January, but then I needed to start working again. So now I am mostly staying here helping in the evening and early in the morning,” Axelle says.
During the Olympic Games last summer there was a huge effort by French authorities to push homeless people – many who were asylum seekers – off the streets of the city centre.
Many were transported to other parts of France, where they were offered accommodation for two or three weeks. Others slept in emergency shelters set up in abandoned buildings on the outskirts of Paris, or temporarily repurposed community halls.
[ Jack Power: The homeless families displaced by the Paris OlympicsOpens in new window ]
The attempt to hide the city’s large homeless population from the Olympic spotlight was controversial. But it showed it is “possible to empty the streets” and accommodate people when officials want to, Matthias says. The number of people sleeping rough in camps on the streets has steadily increased again in recent months, he says.
“The big problem here in our situation is the fact there are rights and laws on paper, but they don’t apply them in reality. It’s not only us as minors, it’s all migrants here, there are no equal rights,” says Abdourahamane.
