One gets a spectacular view of the French capital from the well maintained Buttes Rouge park perched on a hillside in the heart of Paris.
However, its tranquillity has been shattered this week with the erection of three large tents housing African immigrants.
Expelled last Friday from the squat they had been living in for four years a couple of streets away, 20 mainly Ivorian families are now camping in a public park.
Men sleep in one tent and the women and children are in another. There is one toilet and no showers.
If they are lucky one of the park's neighbours will allow them to use their facilities.
Life since they were expelled is harsh but Abdoulaye is not complaining.
"At least we are still alive, we weren't burnt like our brothers trapped in a building."
Help
Two deadly fires last month in dilapidated accommodation full of mainly African immigrants, prompted action from the Paris authorities.
Thousands of immigrants could face eviction
Evacuations of buildings deemed a fire-risk were ordered, and one of the first was on Friday last week in a dawn raid.
About 150 French riot police swooped on the run-down apartments housing the Ivorian group. It all happened so quickly they had to leave the bulk of their belongings behind.
After heading to the park, waiting and wondering what to do, they began getting some help from Parisians and then from the French Red Cross.
"We've received many clothes," says Abdoulaye, pointing out big piles of trousers, T-shirts, shoes and jumpers, left in bulk. A lot of food has also been donated, he explains while walking towards what's called "the common kitchen".
Litres of milk, of water, bags of rice, vegetables and bread are pushed in this corner.
Mama
Mama is five-months pregnant and is standing there smiling, bedecked in orange, distributing bread.
Five-months pregnant, Mama is camping despite medical advice
She is much better than last Friday she says.
The 24-year-old Ivorian woman was dragged to the floor and kicked by French riot police during the raid.
"I don't want to speak about that any more," Mama explains with sadness on her face.
"I just know that the doctor said the baby is fine and released me from hospital after three days on condition I sleep in a proper house. But I didn't want to part with my husband and my eldest child and the group. So I came back here."
Her husband, Fofana, says she has not been sleeping well - being both uncomfortable and unhappy.
Immigrants in Aubervilliers have been camping for three months
"Our eldest son Moussa is also having nightmares at night since he saw how his mother was treated by French policeman. During the day all the children have become aggressive. They are just confused, not understanding what's going on."
A French Red Cross volunteer says so far the only medical problems have been minor ones with children getting flu.
"The fear is that unless the group are re-housed quickly, as winter approaches, things could get a lot worse," they tell me.
Desperate
The situation is a lot worse at another African tented camp which sprang up three months ago in a Paris suburb, Aubervilliers.
Here, there are 26 smaller roadside tents housing 56 children and 42 adults from varying African countries.
Conditions are poor with no toilets or showers
Children were being washed using buckets.
"This is outside, anybody passing by can see us," explains Hawa.
Families are sharing leaking tents with others for everybody to get a roof.
"The situation is desperate. We even received threats from social services to come and to take our children away. This is just a shame," Hawa says.
At present re-housing falls mainly on the districts, but Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe has urged the government to intervene and help in case the problem mushrooms.
Some parents say they may have to reluctantly accept the offer of accommodation in a cheap hotel for two months for the sake of the children, but there is a risk attached.
In April, Africans languishing for four years in a hotel died when it burnt down.
The Paris authorities have identified more than 1,000 run-down buildings, in which some 13,000 families are housed or are squatting - most of them inhabited by Africans.
French Home Affairs Minister Nicholas Sarkhozy has said he intends to close down other squats, but there is a dearth of alternative accommodation.
The fear is that as winter draws in, tented camps could become a regular fixture in Paris. |
