French police evicted more than 400 migrants on Tuesday from the Gaîté Lyrique theatre in central Paris, where they had been squatting for over three months.
Officers launched the operation shortly before 6 a.m. (0500 GMT) as hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside in protest against the eviction. A large banner draped over the theatre read: “400 lives at risk, 80 jobs under threat.”
“Shame, shame, shame to authorities who are at war with isolated minors,” protesters chanted, demanding that local officials provide long-term housing solutions instead of removing the migrants from the building.
Police briefly deployed tear gas at the start of the operation, but the evacuation proceeded without major incidents.
Paris police chief Laurent Nuñez told BFM TV that 46 people were arrested, and nine suffered minor injuries during the clearance.
“We had nowhere to go, we needed a shelter during the cold winter nights. So we had no choice but to occupy the Gaîté Lyrique,” said Dialo Aimmedou, a 16-year-old who said he arrived in France in October 2024.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo defended the decision, telling France Inter radio that emergency housing had been offered to the migrants.
“At this stage, this was the thing to do because the situation was becoming complicated, tense, and dangerous inside,” she said.
