La Gaîté Lyrique, a prominent cultural venue in Paris, remained closed on Thursday as 250 unaccompanied minor migrants continued their occupation of the city centre building.
The occupation began eight days ago when protesters from the Collectif des Jeunes du parc de Belleville (Parc de Belleville youth collective) took over the spaces.
"We are here to claim our right to housing, health, and education," Précieux, a Congolese migrant who claims to be 16-years-old told French news agency AFP.
"Even though we no longer sleep in the cold, staying here all the time is a bit boring," said Alhassane, a Guinean migrant who says he is 15-years-old. The young people receive two meals a day, provided through food and financial donations.
In a statement, managers of La Gaîté Lyrique called on housing bosses at Paris town hall to urgently provide a solution for emergency accommodation.
"We regret the sudden and forced nature of this occupation," the statement said. "However, we understand the legitimacy of the collective's demand for housing for these 250 people."
A spokesperson for La Gaîté Lyrique, David Robert, said the venue faced an untenable situation. "Several hundred thousand euros in direct losses have been estimated following the cancellation of private and public events in recent days," he added.
The venue will remain closed until further notice, venue bosses said.
'No solution offered'
"The conditions are no longer suitable to welcome the public, the spaces are not equipped to accommodate so many people at night. We are also facing hygiene issues in the areas," Juliette Donedieu, director of La Gaité Lyrique, told RFI.
"We are facing a lack of dialogue between the state and the Paris town hall," she added.
"We are in daily contact with the Paris town hall teams, but we see that no solution is being offered to us."
On Tuesday evening, an open letter to Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo was published in the daily newspaper Libération asking for her moral requirement to find emergency housing for the people occupying the cultural venue.
Emergency housing
"We do not have vacant premises that we could use overnight," Patrick Bloche, the first deputy mayor of Paris, told AFP. He said emergency housing was the responsibility of the state.
He said he was in discussions with the Île-de-France region to make the former Brassaï high school in the 15th arrondissement available for the young migrants. The school has been vacant since its closure in September 2023.
"This is an illegal occupation of a building by migrants who have been recognised as adults by the social services of the Paris town hall," said the Prefecture of Île-de-France
"It is up to the owner, if they wish, to contact the judicial and police authorities regarding this situation," it added.
Unaccompanied minors occupied the Maison des Métallos in eastern Paris between April and July 2024.
They were relocated to gymnasiums after authorities initially refusal to requisition the Brassaï high school.
(with newswires)
