French riot police clashed with migrants and their supporters as we speak as they cleared a Paris theatre occupied by tons of of homeless Africans.
Violence broke out exterior the Gaîté Lyrique – one of many French capital’s most historic arts venues – quickly after daybreak on Tuesday morning.
Primarily younger males have moved in since final December when the administration gave them free tickets to a ‘Refugees Welcome in France’ convention.
Performances have been quickly cancelled – shedding the theatre 1000’s in income – as makeshift beds have been positioned across the stage and auditorium.
Till as we speak there have been 446 individuals residing inside illegally, most of them claiming they’re minors underneath the age of 18 who deserve everlasting housing.
CRS (Republican Safety Corporations) officers gathered exterior the theatre at 5am on Tuesday, after which moved in at 6am.
‘There have been speedy clashes with protesters who have been shouting at them, and attempting to cease them stepping into the theatre,’ mentioned an area resident who was on the scene.
‘Police responded with tear fuel and baton costs, and there have been some accidents.’
A choose on the Paris Administrative Court docket ordered the evacuation of the constructing on February 13, however the council initially refused to concerned the police
The variety of migrants occupying the theatre rose to round 440 earlier than it was raided
Till as we speak there have been 446 individuals residing inside illegally, most of them claiming they’re minors underneath the age of 18 who deserve everlasting housing
The 1800-seat constructing that homes the present Gaîté Lyrique was in-built 1862 and have become celebrated for staging operettas by Jacques Offenbach
French police enter the Gaite Lyrique cultural heart after evacuating unaccompanied minors from the location, in Paris, France, 18 March 2025
Migrants sit on the bottom as individuals collect in opposition to police eviction of migrants from the Gaite Lyrique theatre after greater than three months of their occupation, in Paris, France, March 18, 2025
Individuals collect in opposition to police eviction of migrants from the Gaite Lyrique theatre after greater than three months of their occupation, in Paris, France, March 18, 2025
Danièle Simonnet, a Left-wing Paris MP, attacked the ‘violent police intervention’ in a tweet printed on X.
Legislation and order officers pledged motion after those that run the theatre complained of ‘untenable promiscuity’ contained in the theatre resulting in rising violence.
Administration have already deserted the constructing, due to fears about ‘hearth security, safety, hygiene and cleanliness, upkeep, and waste assortment.’
In a press release, they warned of an ‘explosive and undignified scenario’ that was ‘rising in severity’.
Past fights breaking out due to sexual tensions, migrants have been seen dealing and utilizing medication.
Employees have been performing as ‘on-site safety guards, despite the fact that that is neither their talent set nor their job,’ says the assertion.
Regardless of this, the assertion mentioned employees have additionally been ‘welcoming and sheltering the occupants’.
The theatre is owned by the Metropolis of Paris, which is dominated by Socialists and Greens.
Primarily younger males have moved in since final December when the administration gave them free tickets to a ‘Refugees Welcome in France ’ convention
Police clashed with protesters within the streets of Paris
Danièle Simonnet, a Left-wing Paris MP, attacked the ‘violent police intervention’ in a tweet printed on X
Legislation and order officers pledged motion after those that run the theatre complained of ‘untenable promiscuity’ contained in the theatre
Administration had already deserted the constructing, due to fears about ‘hearth security, safety, hygiene and cleanliness, upkeep, and waste assortment’
Native companies complained of losses as a result of occupation
Violence broke out exterior the Gaîté Lyrique – one of many French capital’s most historic arts venues – quickly after daybreak on Tuesday morning
A choose on the Paris Administrative Court docket ordered the evacuation of the constructing on February 13, however the council initially refused to concerned the police.
The migrants have been being supported by political activists much more Left-wing than the theatre’s administration.
Calling themselves the Collectif des Jeunes du Parc de Belleville – after a Parisian park – they view the occupation as being a part of the ‘anti-racist and anti-colonial wrestle’.
However native companies complained of losses as a result of occupation.
‘They’re ruining my enterprise,’ the supervisor Elia, herself the daughter of Algerian migrants, informed The Instances in December.
‘They grasp round exterior my terrace, smoking joints and preventing amongst themselves. Not solely will we now not get theatregoers as a result of the theatre is shut however we don’t get passers-by both. They’re being frightened away by all these younger males.’
The bistrot subsequent to the Nineteenth-century venue, a well-liked spot for theatregoers to eat and drink earlier than and after reveals, has reported €30,000 in misplaced income thus far.
The 1800-seat constructing that homes the present Gaîté Lyrique was in-built 1862 and have become celebrated for staging operettas by Jacques Offenbach, the German-born French composer, within the Nineteenth Century.
CRS (Republican Safety Corporations) officers gathered exterior the theatre at 5am on Tuesday, after which moved in at 6am
An remoted minor sitting on a chair and sleeping together with his arms on a desk throughout the occupation
Photos from contained in the theatre present individuals sleeping on tables in cramped circumstances
On November 1, France bolstered its borders with six of its neighbouring Schengen members – Belgium, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain and Switzerland – with elevated checks.
The controls have been utilized to travellers getting into France through land, sea and air routes from all six nations and can final till April 1, 2025 – however authorities have mentioned they might be prolonged additional.
A French authorities assertion declared the checks have been launched resulting from ‘severe threats to public coverage, public order, and inner safety posed by high-level terrorist actions… felony networks facilitating irregular migration and smuggling, and migration flows that threat infiltration by radicalised people’.
