Last year, 656 people died in the street in France, according to the sad count made by the collective Les Morts de la Rue. A reading of the names of these homeless people was organized in Paris this Tuesday, March 19, in the Lutèce arenas.
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The location was chosen symbolically to warn of the displacement of homeless people in the run-up to the Olympic Games. “ For them, the games are made », We can read on a banner. But for hundreds of other homeless people still alive, displaced in the provinces, the Olympics will not be for them. “ I have a friend who was in Paris, near the Hôtel de Ville in a tent, he was taken to Rouen, says Sophie, a former homeless person. We didn’t ask him for his opinion. It has to be perfect for the Olympics, homeless people don’t exist. »
A social cleansing in the run-up to the Games that Bérangère Grisoni, president of the Les Morts de la Rue collective, does not accept. “ It started last summer with so-called voluntary trips for some, with nothing waiting for them, apart from a few nights in a hotel. “, she explains.
Figures below reality
With these trips, associations fear that the number of deaths in the street will increase further next year. “ People, when they are in a tent for example, it is their home. So moving them like that has a real impact on their social monitoring, their medical monitoring. This is something that worries us a lot », underlines Adèle Lenormand, of the collective Les Morts de la Rue. The prefecture, for its part, ensures that it offers places in permanent accommodation to the homeless.
Last year, 656 people died in the street were recorded, an increase compared to 2022. Among them, 561 men, 68 women, 17 minors including 10 under 4 years old, for an average age of only 48 years. A figure that would have to be multiplied by five to get closer to reality.
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