On July 9, in Paris, members and supporters of the French section of the Post-Soviet Left (http://t.me/postsovietleft) (PSL), the organization “Spalakh”, together with the deputy of the National Assembly from “La France insoumise” Sophie Chikirou, conducted a public inspection of the reception center for Ukrainian refugees.
The pro-Ukrainian rhetoric of the French authorities is strangely combined with complete indifference to the fate of specific Ukrainian women, children and old people forced to flee the war to a foreign land.
Located in the Parisian district of La Villette, the center is managed by the association “Coallia” – the largest private operator of social housing in France.
In 2024, the prosecutor’s office opened a case against the organization for embezzlement of state funds. Perhaps this is why many Ukrainians have been stuck in this place intended for short-term stays (up to 10 days) for many months. According to the administration, there is no money for resettlement. In the huge hangar, divided by partitions into “bedrooms” for 50 people each, the lights are never turned off, and in the men’s room there is one toilet for two hundred people.
At the entrance, the deputy and activists were met by unfriendly security guards who demanded that they agree on a visit with the prefect in advance, threatening otherwise to physically prevent passage. This illegal demand was rejected, but the interpreter from Ukrainian was not allowed through with the deputy and it was possible to communicate only with those Ukrainians who speak French or English.
As a result of the inspection, complaints about poor conditions were confirmed. There were also complaints about rudeness and intimidation on the part of the security hired by the same Coallia.
As a positive fact, it can be noted that the long-promised resettlement has finally begun and literally on the eve of the visit, the first batch of Ukrainians in the amount of 100 people was sent to the regions.
But there is a fly in the ointment here too. A disabled woman with two children, who dared to ask for written guarantees that after two weeks of living in the hotel the refugees would not be asked to pay, was intimidated and threatened to be thrown out into the street with her children in two days.
As a result of the inspection, Sofia Chikirou promised to take control of the living conditions and accommodation of Ukrainians in this center, as well as those who were deprived of the right to live in it as a result of the arbitrariness of the administration.
“We, for our part, are ready to provide maximum assistance to the self-organization of Ukrainian citizens to protect their rights,” noted the representatives of our organization. The Ukrainians also received information about the PSL project “Migrant Collective (https://migrant-collective.org/)”, aimed at mutual assistance of different categories of migrants in Europe.
Photo: press service of S. Chikirou.
