PARIS (AP) — French police evicted migrants from a makeshift tent-camp next to Paris City Hall early on Tuesday, the latest clear-out of people without homes that aid groups allege is a campaign to beautify the French capital ahead of the Summer Olympics.
In an operation that began before dawn, police woke around 100 teenage boys and young men from West Africa, telling them to pack their tents and belongings.
Paris police said the operation was carried out for security reasons, notably because the camp was near schools.
Paris-region officials told the men — many of them minors and in the process of seeking residency papers — that they could be housed temporarily for three weeks in the Loire-region town of Angers if they wished. A bus was waiting in a nearby street to take them first to a Paris-region transit center.
Only two or three men boarded the bus. Most of the others walked away, carrying their belongings. Some said they feared being left isolated and abandoned in Angers, 250 kilometers (150 miles) southwest of the French capital, once the three weeks of temporary accommodation run out.
China supports IAEA's efforts to ensure Zaporizhzhia's safety
110,000 people to evacuate as floods swamp Russia, Kazakhstan
20 years later, Abu Ghraib detainees get their day in US court
HKFP launches permanent digital archive of the History Museum's 'Hong Kong Story'
China launches global consumption event series at heavyweight expo
110,000 people to evacuate as floods swamp Russia, Kazakhstan
Pseudoephedrine could be back on the shelves as soon as June
VOX POPULI: Professionalism will be the key to successful ride
World Insights: Strong Mideast rapprochement signals changing regional order