Police evict more than 400 young migrants from iconic Paris theatre after monthslong occupation

French police have evicted more than 400 young migrants that had been occupying La Gaîté Lyrique theatre, in the centre of Paris. Shortly before 6am on Tuesday morning, police officers went through activists and charged the migrants, using batons and tear gas to disperse the occupiers.

Police also arrested 46 people, most of them migrants. Their legal status will be reviewed and they could face deportation, Paris chief police Laurent Nuñez said on BFMTV.

The eviction came a month after an order from a local administrative court, which claimed that the occupation created major security and health risks for the young migrants. Nuñez, who instructed the evacuation, said the occupation was a “threat to public order.”

“At this stage, it was the right thing to do because the situation was very complex, very tense and very dangerous inside the building”, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo reacted on France Inter after the event.

Leftist lawmakers denounced the use of violence on the scene and a lack of concrete solutions from authorities.

The occupation of La Gaîté Lyrique began on 10 December, at the instigation of the Belleville Park Youth Collective - an organisation founded by minors and young adults from sub-Saharan Africa.

Many of the occupiers had come to France as unaccompanied minors, but they claimed that French authorities had denied them the protection that comes with this legal status. By the end of the first night, around 200 people had found shelter in the theatre and demanded that the authorities provide them with housing.

The venue quickly decided to suspend its artistic activities.

In several statements, the theatre expressed regret over the “sudden, spontaneous nature of this occupation” but recognised its legitimacy and condemned “the inaction and lack of dialogue between the government and the City of Paris.”

Located in the liberal neighbourhood of the Maris, La Gaîté Lyrique is known for its artsy opera and ballet performances but also for its conferences on current topics ranging from climate change, gender issues and new technologies.

The 19th-century theatre is a cultural venue as much as a community space.

“La Gaîté Lyrique should be a place where you go even if you don't really know why, because you know there will always be something going on,” artistic director Vincent Cavaroc said in 2023.

Throughout the monthslong occupation, La Gaîté Lyrique staff members worked with NGOs to maintain the building and provide care to the occupants. However, the venue had been under increasing pressure.

“The situation in the building is at a tipping point, with untenable overcrowded resulting in increasingly severe and frequent violence,” the theatre said in a statement on 26 February.

The future of the young migrants evicted from the theatre remains uncertain. Paris chief of police Laurent Nuñez said they would be offered shelter, without providing more details.

According to Franceinfo, authorities had previously offered the occupiers to be relocated in Rouen, a city about two hours from Paris. Most of them had refused, not wanting to uproot the life that they had built in the capital.

Additional sources • BFMTV, Franceinfo