On Wednesday, dozens of migrants were taken out of a camp set up in front of Paris City Hall. The majority of them were small children and mothers. They were placed in makeshift quarters in the east of France. Advocates for migrants have asserted that actions such as these are a part of a "social cleansing" in advance of the Olympics.

According to reports from news agency AP, about 50 people—mostly women and small children—were relocated from a camp in front of Paris City Hall to temporary housing in Besançon, a tiny city about 400 kilometres southeast of the French capital. Police cleared the camp in the early morning hours of Wednesday (April 3) and the migrants boarded buses with their belongings. The migrants had been sleeping under plastic sheets to protect themselves from the cold and rain, reportedly because authorities had forbidden them from setting up tents in the central square.

Migrant mother hopes that life outside Paris will be better

One of the migrants told AP reporters that she was hoping life would be better for her and her children outside of Paris. Fatoumata from Guinea said that she and her two children (aged three months and three years) had spent a month sleeping rough in the French capital. "It’s no way to live, it’s exhausting," she said. "They told us we are going to the provinces, which is better than sleeping outside with the children." Like Fatoumata, many of the unhoused migrants in Paris are from French-speaking African countries like Burkina Faso, Guinea, Ivory Coast and Senegal. But there are also many Afghans among the hundreds of migrants sleeping rough in makeshift camps in the French capital. Some are undocumented or have had their asylum claims rejected, but there are also asylum seekers and people with international protection who have struggled to find housing or who have not gotten a spot in official reception centers.

Hundreds of homeless migrants in Paris

Many of the unhoused migrants in Paris are young people. Migrants and rights organizations say that many unaccompanied teenagers are falsely considered adults by the authorities, meaning they do not get access to the services and rights unaccompanied migrants under 18 are entitled to, including housing. Unhoused migrants have set up camp in front of the Paris City Hall several times over the past few years to demand accommodation. This time, people had moved into the central square on Monday evening (April 1). "The aim of this occupation is, as usual, to make visible the situation of these people," Nikolai Posner, coordinator of Utopia 56, an organization that supports unhoused migrants in Paris, told InfoMigrants earlier this week.

NGOs claim: 'Social cleansing' ahead of Paris Olympics

The housing situation for migrants and refugees in Paris has long been controversial, but the debate surrounding the issue has become more heated ahead of the Olympics, which will be held in the city in July and August. Migrants and some left-leaning advocacy organizations have accused the authorities of carrying out 'social cleansings' in their attempts to push poor and homeless people, including migrants, out of the city. Meanwhile, some French political officials from outside of Paris – many of them from right-wing parties – have criticized the relocation of migrants from the capital to their region. However, some migrants and officials believe that relocations from the expensive capital to more rural regions could ultimately benefit migrants, as they may be more likely to find accommodation and work opportunities in these less-saturated areas.