Wednesday, October 5th, 2016. Paris, Stalingrad, avenue de Flandre.
Testimony of M, a Sudanese refugee who was here this morning. He arrived in France in September 2016 and has asked for Asylum in France. He lives on the streets.
- What happened this morning?
- This morning police came at 6:30 or 7:00 I'm not sure.
- What happened then?
- They wake up the refugees.
- How?
- During 3 minutes, they say: "Wake up! Wake up!", "Move! Move!" (in English). They walk around the place shaking the tents many times. After 3 minutes if you don't get out of your bed, the police takes your bed, carry your bed up, and wake you up, by force.
- Where were you sleeping?
- My bed is the first zone when you come to the area of refugees. It is in avenue de Flandre, between the metro and the first red light.
- What did you see from your place?
- After I wake up, I see all the police around me, so many people. So frightening. Many refugees run because they don’t have an address.
- How do they escape? Does police surround you?
- All the area and the streets are closed, but 4 people manage to escape, because there is a distance between 2 policemen, 1 or 2 meters and at some moment, they are focused on something else and don’t see. So I see 4 people who don't have an address escape from the police.
- What do you mean by an address?
- I mean like a permission to stay in France, to put their fingerprints in France. Many of them are not in the process of asylum request yet. They don't have an appointment or papers to show to the police yet.
- So after the police wake up people by force, what do they do?
- Police say to the refugees to move up. They close all the place to check how many refugees have address. If you have address you can go but if you haven't, the police takes you by bus to the police station. All that without your bed, your home, your blanket.
- People can take their bags but they can't take their blankets, tents and beds, is that right?
- Yes, you can take your bags and the small things. People all take their bags. I think so... Many people try to take their blanket. Only some refugees succeed to take one blanket.
- Is there a cleaning team?
- Yes, the cleaners are with the police. They stand near the police and wait.
- What happens with your own things?
- For me? I just take my bags, I have 2 bags, I just take my 2 bags.
I don’t take my blanket and my bed. And after that, the police check my address and let me go. After half an hour, I return back and stay again in the street. I search in the rubbish to get a new blanket. When police leaves the place, many refugees go to the car of the cleaners and try to take their blankets, their bed, their clothes, and things from the car. But after 5 minutes, the refugees run because the police come to catch them.
- How many people were arrested this morning?
- I think 20 people were arrested.
(Actually it's much more than that. we heard later that 3 bus of people were arrested and taken to two different police stations.)
- Do you have other things to say about this situation?
- For me? I'm so angry about the situation, but I have to be patient, because I have something to do here, in France. I want to improve myself, to go forward to the future, to continue my studies. I hope to find a new life and good people here in France. This is my idea, this is my plan!