Occupied for 79 days by migrants, the management of the Gaîté Lyrique is taking a step back

In a press release issued on Thursday, the management of the company that manages the Gaîté Lyrique gave an alarming overview of the situation in which the theater finds itself today. Since December, young migrants, supervised by a collective, have taken over the Grands Boulevards venue. The management estimates that there are now more than 400 of them, waiting for their situation to be resolved and for them to find shelter.

"For 79 days, the Gaîté Lyrique has been calling for help in vain in the face of an occupation it is undergoing and an undignified human situation," explains the management of the establishment, which now considers the situation "explosive, with untenable promiscuity, and the violence linked to this promiscuity." The management thus deplores "several fire alarms" , including "a fire in the occupied spaces on February 21, requiring the intervention of the Paris fire brigade and the national police."

After the employees withdrew on Tuesday, considering that the situation constitutes "a serious and imminent danger for them, for the people who occupy the premises and for the building", the directors of the management company announced that "without intervention from the authorities by Friday, the Gaîté Lyrique SAS and its teams will be forced to leave the building and suspend the execution of the contracts of the service providers in charge of fire safety, security, hygiene and cleanliness, maintenance, waste collection". They are calling on the Paris city hall, owner of the theater, and the public authorities in particular.

Around 200 young migrants had taken over the premises on 10 December, with the support of a migrant relief group. Some were refused recognition of their minority status and have filed an appeal that could take several months. At the end of January, the theatre team called for a "rapid resolution of the situation by providing shelter" , considering it "unthinkable to throw more than 400 people out onto the street without a solution" .

Seized by the City of Paris, the owner of the premises, the interim relief judge of the administrative court ordered the evacuation within one month on Thursday, February 14. The city hall indicated that it would not, however, call on the police, stating that it had launched this procedure to force the State, which is responsible for emergency accommodation, to "take its responsibilities."