Several buses were sent in shortly before 7am on Thursday to move out and resettle up to 300 single men and young families who had been living in difficult conditions.
The Paris police prefecture said it did not intend to clear the camp at Porte d’Aubervilliers – which aid organisations say is home to some 2,000 migrants – but rather to relocate some of the inhabitants “in line with government regulations”.
[PARIS] Évacuation terminée, 200 à 300 personnes n'ont pas pu monter dans les bus (vidéo). Nous dénonçons une opération encore sous dimensionnée, pensée comme une opération de com et pas comme une solution durable et digne pour loger les exilé-es à la rue pic.twitter.com/nqktZm9Vq5
Utopia 56 (@Utopia_56) November 28, 2019
The prefecture did concede that longer-term plans are in the works to completely dismantle the Porte d’Aubervilliers camp.
Thursday morning’s operation comes after hundreds of migrants were cleared from camps at nearby Porte de la Chapelle on 7 November.
In a statement, some 20 NGOs denounced what they called an "infernal cycle of camps, evacuations and harassment by police".
Groups such as Emmaus France and Utopia 56 warned that within 48 hours of having lost their tents and blankets, many people were returned to the streets after failing to qualify for refugee status.
