A new squat was evacuated in Montpellier (Hérault), in Mas de Brousse, this Tuesday morning, indicate the services of the Hérault prefecture. The operation took place “in the context of the execution of a court decision”. On September 15, the court gave the occupiers three months to vacate the illegally occupied premises.
“Faced with the observation of the absence of voluntary departure of the occupants”, the prefecture asked for the intervention of the police. Ten adults from Afghanistan, Gambia and Senegal were expelled, “out of the thirty foreigners who usually occupied the site”. Among them are six people in regular situations, asylum seekers, “supported by the French Office for Immigration and Integration”. Four others, in an irregular situation, were placed in administrative detention.
“The choice that is made is to put people back on the streets”
In a statement, the prefect of the Hérault, Hugues Moutouh, “reaffirms the will to put an end to the squats of illegal immigrants and the culture of impunity that accompanies them”. For several months, many squats have been evacuated.
Joined by 20 minutes, Damien Nantes, regional coordinator of Médecins du Monde, deplores that “the choice that has been made is to put people back on the street”. “If we can fully discuss the conditions of the illegal occupation of a space, what we see in our treatment center is how much the fact of being outside makes people feel bad”, he confides. “The prefecture is very firm on some principles of law, in this case the evacuation of the squats. We would like it to be the same with regards to providing emergency housing for anyone in need. There are families with children, sometimes sick, who are on the street today. »
