Authorities Clearing Paris of Homeless Ahead of Olympics

Ahead of the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics in July and August, approximately 500 migrants and homeless people have been relocated from France‘s capital city to rural regions and small towns of the country. This action is perceived by both humanitarian activists and some provincial authorities as an effort to conceal the existence of homeless problem in preparation for the Olympic Games, aimed at “cleaning the deck” in the capital before the major international event.

Several regional mayors in different regions have raised concerns about the recent unexpected influx of strange people to their areas. Local authorities in Orleans – the city in central France, with a population of approximately 100,000, said that up to 500 homeless migrants were dumped on city without its prior knowledge. The new arrivals are initially provided with three weeks of accommodation in a hotel paid for by the state, but are then left to fend for themselves. The deputy mayor of Strasbourg, also reported facing similar issues, describing the situation as ‘hazy’.

The upcoming Summer Olympics has also been associated by certain human rights advocates with the action, alleging that the government initiated the effort to enhance the appearance of the French capital. Paul Alauzy from the non-governmental organization (NGO) Medecins du Monde stated that if the intention is solely to conceal poverty and homelessness and create a facade in preparation for the Olympics, it is not effectively addressing the humanitarian concerns.

The state’s regional security office declared earlier this week that the recent moves occurred because emergency accommodation centers had reached maximum capacity. They emphasized that this action is not connected to the Olympics.

France received 167,000 asylum requests in 2023, the second-highest number in the EU, with migrants mostly from Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East. With demand for short-term emergency accommodation far exceeding supply, makeshift camps regularly emerge around the capital and are periodically raided and broken up by police.

In 2023, France witnessed the second-highest asylum application numbers in the European Union, recording a total of 167,000 requests. Overwhelming majority of these requests were made by illegal migrants originating from Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East. Due to a significant shortage of short-term emergency housing facilities, impromptu camps frequently appear in the vicinity of the capital city and are intermittently subject to police intervention and dispersal.

France would not be the first host of the Olympics to reportedly resort to these types of measures. In 2008, Beijing’s Olympics clean-up saw hundreds of beggars and homeless people ousted from the streets, with many shipped back to their home regions. Rio de Janeiro’s homeless were forced out of tourist areas when Brazil hosted the Games in 2016.

France is not the first city hosting the Olympic Games to allegedly employ such tactics. During the 2008 Beijing Olympics, a significant number of beggars and homeless individuals were removed from the streets, with many being transported back to their respective home regions. Likewise, when Brazil hosted the Games in 2016, the homeless in Rio de Janeiro were compelled to vacate tourist areas. Back in 1980 Soviet authorities cleansed Moscow of all “anti-social” and “undesirable” people ahead of 1980 Moscow Olympics that were eventually boycotted by the Free World over USSR’s aggression in Afghanistan.