'Social Cleansing': Thousands of Illegal Immigrants and Sex Workers Removed from Paris Ahead of Olympics 2024
French charities have condemned the ‘social cleansing’. A group of French charities that have been consistently critical of the Paris Olympics accused organisers on Monday of carrying out a ‘social cleansing’ of the French capital of illegal migrants and sex workers ahead of the Olympics.
A report by The Other Side of the Medal, a group of 80 different charities, said Paris was following the guidelines used by other Olympic host cities in cracking down on illegal migrants, the homeless and sex workers.
‘We hoped that this edition would be different from previous ones, and for a long period of time we made suggestions to this effect,’ the report says. ‘Today... we can state that Paris 2024 will be no different from previous events and will indeed accelerate the exclusion of the most vulnerable populations.’
The report also examines the actions of the French police to clear the streets of Paris of illegal migrant and homeless camps in the run-up to the Olympic Games. These actions will last from 26 July to 11 August.
The report says that there will be 26 operations to eliminate illegal migrant camps in 2024, ‘almost as many as in the whole of 2022, when there were 30’.
When asked to comment on the latest report, the Paris 2024 organising committee stressed that it is not responsible for social policy or law enforcement.
The Ministry of Social Affairs said it had ‘taken the concerns seriously’ and ‘consulted regularly’ with charities.