Squat and clandestine dump in Villejuif: the Redoute des Hautes-Bruyères, “a priority” for the prefect

Thirty families in March, 109 people in mid-July, 190 in August and nearly 250 at the beginning of September: the clandestine village nestled in the old fort of Villejuif continues to grow.

But more than the illegal occupation of La Redoute des Hautes-Bruyères, a state property where the national police have long trained its CRS, it is the gigantic wild dump that worries the authorities. Because the comings and goings of trucks are linked daily from the confinement, and with them, the often industrial waste spills which accumulate on mounds several meters high. The total volume is now estimated at 18,000 m 3 …

After many alerts given by residents, the city but also the Department, which has the adjoining park, the prefect of Val-de-Marne has decided to make this black spot one of his “priorities”. This is what Raymond Le Deun himself announced on Monday, during the traditional back-to-school press lunch.

The representative of the State in Val-de-Marne also took over the management of La Redoute as soon as the meal was over, “to see what measures to take to control access and stop the arrival of waste of all kinds” . The “environmental services” accompanied him there, with the idea of ​​precisely determining the nature of the detritus illegally stored on the disused military land dedicated to housing an annex of the Ministry of the Interior.

Highly toxic materials

What does the prefect fear? “Hazardous waste left by unscrupulous companies, who throw their rubble here so as not to have to go (and pay) to the recycling center. At least that’s what many witnesses claim, some having even photographed vehicles screen-printed on behalf of construction companies. No wonder, therefore, that the presence of asbestos materials has been widely feared since March.

A complaint has already been filed by the state, said the prefect on Tuesday. He must soon seize the public prosecutor for “environmental crimes committed”. Regarding the illegal occupation, Raymond Le Deun informs that an eviction procedure has been initiated, with the objective of seeing this site fully evacuated before the end of the calendar year. “We will try to assert article 40 in view of the dangerousness of the terrain,” supports the mayor of Villejuif, Pierre Garzon (PCF), who thus hopes for an accelerated investigation.

Self-proclaimed “camp leaders”

As a reminder, it was the Moldovans who first occupied the police academy buildings left vacant in August 2016. The first arrivals thus settled on the upper part of the promontory. Roma families started to pour in in May. They took up their quarters below, bordering the moats of barracks and living as far as the fort’s casemates. But difficult to say that the cohabitation is going well. A source close to the case reports “conflicts between the different communities”.

According to an administrative note that we were able to consult, “attitudes could lead one to think that certain occupants are taking the quality of camp leaders, probably in order to be able to negotiate financially the right to settle ”. The document mentions that “this type of practice […] has the consequence of promoting the arrival of new families on a regular, rapid basis, and in large numbers ”.