THESE are summer vacation days in France and educational institutions are closed until early September. That however is no longer the case with Guillaume Budé high school, situated on rue Jean Quarré in the nineteenth arrondissement of Paris.
We have already discussed a few weeks back the growing incidents of squatters occupying apartments and houses whose owners were temporarily absent for one reason or the other.
But this phenomenon took astounding proportions recently when the above mentioned school was invaded by no less than three hundred illegal immigrants, mainly from sub-Saharan countries. Today they are camped inside the entire building as well as in its courtyard and the basketball ground.
The humanitarian organisation that is behind this daredevil operation is called LaChapelle; its spokesman had nothing to hide: “If they throw them out of here, we’ll find another building for them … and another and another. The authorities must understand that we want a permanent solution and not just threats or promises.”
Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo is apparently perplexed. At the beginning she spoke of using police force, then quickly changed her mind. In the words of Bruno Juillard, an official representing the mayor: “Even if this occupation was carried out in an illegal fashion, we’ll soon find another place or transform the school itself into a permanent immigrants’ centre before it’s too late.”
City authorities have already provided the occupants with food, bed sheets, pillows and blankets as well as pocket money and free passes to use the metro, trams and buses.
“We have also disinfected the school building and restored water supply and electric power that were cut off in the beginning by mistake,” reassures the mayor’s spokesman.
The reaction from politicians is one of shock and surprise. Senator Roger Karoutchi representing the Republican party says the message from the mayor to all illegal immigrants as well as to the criminal networks who bring them here is loud and clear: “Forward march to Paris!”
Other leaders like the European Parliament member Nadine Morano have warned of a future, unmanageable flood of immigrants if nothing is done to stop the flow. The Yvelines representative at the National Assembly Henri Guaino expresses thorough despair: “I think everyone is going crazy!”
But the most amazing of comments comes from Hervé Ouzzan, official spokesman for the Immigrants Support Committee: “Here these people are protected. Today they are three hundred but soon enough they’ll be twice that number, as news spreads fast in the immigration networks. More and more will come here from all the camps based in Europe. We now have the entire building and we are ready to welcome everyone.”
Jean Lavergeat, a journalist who attended the news conference, says upon hearing the statement he scratched his head twice but couldn’t make up his mind if Hervé Ouzzan was being dismally naive or simply ironical.
As far as Parisians are concerned, what in the past were curious but distant happenings in the Lampedusa and Canary islands in Italy and Spain that they used to read about in the press or watch on television have today become a reality in the mid of their own city. There are some seven other such camps in Paris — in public parks and under bridges or railway arches.
Nadine Morano who used to be a minister in the old Sarkozy days, says the immigrants not only fail to respect the rules of cleanliness in the city but bring with them drugs, crime and prostitution. Bruno Julliard reacts by accusing Morano of “drifting into xenophobia”.
Meanwhile, Hervé Ouzzan’s prediction is fast turning into reality and it won’t be a surprise if, by the time you are reading these lines, the number has already crossed the figure of six hundred.
Such are the interesting lessons learnt at the school!
—The writer is a journalist based in Paris.
Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2015
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