Exiles at the Saint-Denis camp

Paris - August-November 2020

Saint-Denis, Porte de Paris (Seine-Saint-Denis). In recent weeks, dozens of exiles (Afghans, but also Somalis, Sudanese, Bangladeshis ...) have settled in a camp under the A1 motorway slip road in Saint-Denis, 100 m from the Stade de France. Without toilets, with only one point of drinking water at the start, the young men live in very harsh conditions. Some don't even have a tent for shelter at night. They depend on food distributions for their meals.

Victims of assaults, theft, and incursions by the police who sometimes spray them with tear gas, they express their fatigue and their anger about the reception conditions of asylum seekers in France. Exiles spend a lot of time on their mobile phones trying to reach OFII (French Office for Immigration and Integration). They try to get an appointment to officially declare their arrival in France. The association Solidarité Migrants Wilson, which bring meals to the camp, estimated their number at 800 on September 9, and more than 2,000 in early November. They were 33 in mid-August ...

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