The premises have been emptied of their occupants and the excavators are now at work. Three Roma settlements in Sarcelles (Val-d’Oise) they were evacuated on Thursday 27 and Friday 28 October. About 135 people lived in makeshift shelters on Chemin des Poiriers, Route de Refuzniks and in the Parc des Prés below the city. Two of these illegal occupations involved land owned by the Val-d’Oise departmental council. “They had been busy for a few weeks. For the older ones, it was before the summer ”, says the mayor of Sarcelles, Patrick Haddad (PS).
The evacuation of the camp located on the chemin des Poiriers took place on Thursday afternoon. The other two were evacuated the next day in execution of two court decisions. This evacuation decision was coordinated jointly with the state services and the department of Val-d’Oise. The demolition of the precarious plants and the safety of the sites were undertaken at a good pace. “We did things as per the book,” says Patrick Haddad.
The three camps were empty on the day of the evacuation as national forces made several trips upstream to warn the inhabitants of their evacuations. These sites had already been the subject of an eviction. They had been offered a housing solution but the inhabitants refused and did not want to reveal their identity. Patrick Haddad indicates that they did not show up at the municipal center for social action and that the children were not in school.
