One does not accidentally become a criminal out of solidarity… This is what one might call a major blunder. The last straw. Last February, officers from the Air and Border Police (PAF) raided the premises of the “Emmaüs Pointe-Rouge” community in Marseille. Scandal. Files of companions “with a foreign-sounding name” were seized. The manager, Kamel Fassatoui, was placed under custody for six hours. Hamid, a young companion in an irregular situation, was expelled a week later. An anachronistic scenario for a contentious issue. The day after this intrusion, about twenty associations came to support the little protégés of Abbé Pierre, a champion of the uprising of kindness.
Kamel Fassatoui testified, visibly moved: “This is an attack on unconditional hospitality. Something must be done. We need to react!” Heads of humanitarian and solidarity organizations present all agreed. The idea of a national mobilization was born: two months later, demonstrations sprouted on the asphalt. That was yesterday. The collective of associations formed for the occasion is calling for the abolition of the crime of solidarity. “A myth,” according to the Immigration Minister.
Kamel Fassatoui is baffled: “If it’s a myth, why was I arrested? Eric Besson has stated that only networks are being pursued today. Doesn’t he know that Emmaüs is not a network? They took Martin Hirsch, former president of Emmaüs France, into the government; they didn’t recruit him from a network, did they?” Regardless, “the solidarity criminals” will continue to help the undocumented, crime or not. For the moment, the associations have recorded 5,000 arrests. That’s far too many, yet not enough… The mesh of the net is wide. As they say, “nine times out of ten, the law is a good girl: she smiles at those who violate her.” So much the better!
Angélique Siar
