Tear gas filled the air as French police raided a Paris theatre at dawn, evicting over 400 migrants who had been squatting there for months. Protesters shouted "shame" as riot police moved in, sparking clashes. The migrants, mostly West Africans, say they have nowhere else to go.
French police raided a theatre in central Paris at dawn on Tuesday, briefly using tear gas to evict more than 400 migrants who had been squatting there for months, as hundreds of demonstrators protested their removal.
The migrants, including many unaccompanied minors, had occupied the leftist Gaite Lyrique theatre, a concert and arts venue, since December 10, in a demand for shelter.
Police in riot gear approached the theatre amid protests from hundreds of demonstrators who shouted "shame, shame" as they shielded their faces from clouds of tear gas.
Paris police chief Laurent Nunez told BFM TV there were 46 arrests and nine people were slightly injured during the operation, which began shortly before 6 a.m. (0500 GMT)
"At this stage, this was the thing to do because the situation was becoming complicated, tense and dangerous inside," Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo told France Inter radio on Tuesday. Emergency housing had been offered to the migrants, she added.
"We had no place to go, we were sleeping outside and we needed a roof so that we don't have to spend the night outdoors, because this winter has been really cold. So we had no choice but to occupy the Gaite Lyrique," said Dialo Aimmedou, a migrant from Guinea who said he was 16.
He said he arrived in France last October. Aimmedou was one of hundreds of largely West African migrants who attended a pro-refugee conference at the cultural centre last December and never left.
"We heard about France, we thought everything was going well here. We thought that nobody was forced to sleep outdoors, but since we came ... we are suffering very much here," he added.
Critics allege that many of those squatting the venue are older than they say they are, and are only claiming to be minors to seek broader protections.
Their occupation posed a complex problem for the theatre. On December 17, its management suspended operations. A large banner, hanging off the theatre on Tuesday morning, read: "400 lives at risk, 80 jobs under threat."
In a statement last month, the theatre called for urgent help from authorities to rehouse the migrants due to a rapid deterioration of conditions inside that posed a threat to its staff, installations and the migrants themselves.
Paris police said the operation aimed to offer the migrants "appropriate care solutions and administrative processing" but added that only six people accepted their assistance.
The police also said certain activist groups urged those in the theatre not to accept their help.
Dialo Abdelrahman, a migrant from Guinea, who gave his age as 16, said he was shocked to see such treatment from French authorities.
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