Young migrants camp in the cold in front of the Council of State

"I've been here for four days and it's extremely difficult. We sleep on icy ground, our feet are frozen. The water seeps on the tents", confides Fabrice *, originally from Cameroon, in France for a few months.

He is one of more than 400 young migrants who have lived for six months in a camp in Ivry-sur-Seine (Val-de-Marne).

While waiting for a court decision to decide on their age, these young people, many of whom are from West Africa or Afghanistan, are deprived of accommodation and care by social assistance. in childhood.

Since Friday afternoon, dozens of blue tents have taken over the Place du Palais-Royal, in front of the Council of State and opposite the Louvre Museum.

"A symbolic location, in order to make passers-by react when under a bridge in Ivry-sur-Seine, no one cares", explains Zelda Gayet, coordinator at Utopia 56, one of the associations which carried out this action.

Its volunteers, as well as those of Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Doctors of the World and Midis du MIE, have been taking turns with young migrants for four days.

"All my limbs are frozen. I had to miss a day of school to be here, to be sure of having a place to sleep," said Habib Babak, originally from Afghanistan. Added to the cold is the humidity and crowding in the tents.

Ten young people have been evacuated by firefighters since Friday, for cases of hypothermia, according to the associations. But the others remain determined.

- "A lot of solidarity" -

"They are aware of the difficulty, the cold, the danger", but "we are talking about young people who have seen relatives drown in the Mediterranean", explains Sylvie Brugnon, volunteer for the association Les Midis du MIE.

The associations provide them with shoes, winter coats and even pairs of gloves.

A few meters from the camp, dozens of young people wrapped up in their hoods are trying to warm up near a food stand.

“There is a lot of solidarity,” explains Nora*, a volunteer at Les Midis du MIE, who points out that in addition to associations, “many people are mobilizing on their own” to provide help.

A football game is improvised, other young people hail a volunteer to collect their mobile phones which she charges and carries in a bag where wires stick out everywhere.

"We have no choice but to sleep outside and settle here, because we can't work, we can't go to school, we can't have a residence permit", summarizes bitterly Fabrice.

"The situation persists, and we have had no political response. The government is in denial", criticizes Sylvie Brugnon, but the number of young homeless migrants continues to increase.

The town hall of Ivry-Sur-Seine has offered to accommodate some young people in a gymnasium in the city, but is awaiting the green light from the prefecture of Val-de-Marne. Insufficient in the eyes of the associations. "We don't want crumbs, we want the establishment of a lasting system", adds Yann Manzi, co-founder of Utopia 56, for whom the reception of Ukrainians proves that "the State has all the places that 'he wants".

*(alias)