The administrative court of Nice rejects the expulsion request of the occupants of the Church of the Vow filed by the city of Nice. The municipality announces it will appeal to the Council of State.
At nightfall, the vicinity of the Church of the Vow, facing the Promenade du Paillon, transforms into a camp. Children, women, and men sleep there. Then, at dawn, the tents are folded, and belongings are methodically stored on the site.
This situation has lasted for months. Due to a lack of housing, many of them, awaiting their refugee status, have found no other solutions. They assure they do not disturb the neighborhood, nor create security or hygiene problems.
Conditions not met for an emergency expulsion
On July 11, the court sided with them. The emergency judge established that the necessary conditions for an emergency expulsion were not met. Public disturbance, health risks, and safety risks for people were not established.
“Regarding public sanitation, it was noted that the surroundings of the church were maintained clean by the occupants themselves, there was a waste container and public toilets nearby, and the presence of rats, which is a general problem throughout the city, could not be attributed to these occupants,” the court stated in a press release.
The municipality does not give up
“The City of Nice acknowledges this decision of the emergency judge at the Administrative Court and announces it will pursue its action by appealing to the Council of State,” it shared in a statement. Additionally, the city deplores that “this illicit camp” is “increasingly significant”.
“A risk of soil collapse” threatening “all the occupants and residents” worries the municipality. “It is intolerable to let this totally unbecoming situation continue,” it concludes.
On June 8, Anthony Borré, the deputy mayor Christian Estrosi shared on his Twitter account the municipality’s desire to expel those he referred to as “illegal immigrants”. Thus, an emergency procedure was mentioned in this tweet. This urgent request for “occupation without legal rights or title of the Church of the Vow surroundings” was filed with the administrative court on June 27.
Victory for associations defending asylum seekers’ rights
Having heard of the emergency appeal through the press, local human rights defense associations were quick to respond to Anthony Borré’s remarks. “These are not illegal immigrants; these are people in a regular situation who have every right to be on the territory,” stated Christine Panaïotis, president of Cimade 06.
On June 20, during World Refugee Day, Secours Catholique and Cimade alerted on the saturation of housing for asylum seekers in Nice. The association leaders also highlighted “the state’s failure” to guarantee them the right to housing according to their situation and for the entire duration of their application process, as mandated by French law. In this regard, the associations informed us that lawyers were already preparing a defense.
The municipality and associations seem to generally agree on one point: the slowness of the State in processing asylum applications. “The situation also highlights the particularly long wait times for asylum application reviews in France, potentially exacerbating these difficulties in the future and making it a nationwide issue,” notes the city of Nice.
