Since the beginning of March 2021, work has started on a vacant lot in the area of Blanquette, north of Montpellier. The department of Hérault would like to build there, for temporary use, a reception center for unaccompanied minors (MNA). It would seem that the objective is to accommodate around fifty young people in prefabricated type housing.
This Saturday, March 13, 2021, a group of opponents to the project organized a demonstration (Collectif Montpellier Nord Hôpitaux Facultés, which brings together environmental activists and residents). About forty people took part in the mobilization.
“According to what has been said, it would be planned to accommodate these young people, for five years, in Algeco“Says Thierry Teulade, spokesperson for the collective. The sixty-year-old shows two prefabs installed on the vacant lot.”They are surely there for the workers to have lunch there at noon, he continues. Do you see minors living in there? Do you find it worthy?“
The vacant lot chosen by the department is located on the border with the town of Saint-Clément-de Rivière, near the shopping center. It is surrounded by two departmental. “I am very concerned about the security conditions of this project, explains Laurence Cristol, departmental councilor and mayor of Saint-Clément-de-Rivière. The land is located between two factories and getting there is complicated. I just did it on foot: there is no sidewalk or pedestrian crossing.“
We will have to be very vigilant – René, resident of the neighborhood for 70 years
Some of the residents fear that this MNA reception center will raise the delinquency. “It’s going to be cotton around here, says René, who lives 300 meters from the site. What we fear are thefts, assaults and damage.“Same concerns for Raphael, a young man in his thirties:”I’m afraid there are burglaries. In fact, we’re all scared.“
“These facts of delinquency, they emerge when young people are poorly accompanied“, exclaims Thierry Teulade. The collective wants these minors to be welcomed in a more suitable structure like a Social Children’s Homes (MECS), where educators follow young people. “Why are they not entitled to this support which would allow them to follow a training course and integrate, asks Thierry Teulade. And while they are undergoing training, they would not have time to commit petty theft.“
The Collective has launched a petition, which has, for the moment, collected 800 signatures. Opponents of the project also requested the president of the department, Kléber Mesquida, the president of the Metropolis of Montpellier, Michaël Delafosse and François Lanot and Gabrielle Henry, departmental councilors of the canton (the question of unaccompanied minors is of the departmental order). They have not yet answered them.
–
