Legal

Parisian theatre at risk a month after being occupied by protestors

Paris’ La Gaîté Lyrique theatre is at risk of closure after being occupied by hundreds of protestors for more than a month.

La Gaîté Lyrique has been occupied by around 350 immigrants and their supporters since they were invited to attend a free conference on refugees on December 10. The Belleville Park Youth Collective, an organisation founded by minors and young adults from sub-Saharan Africa who now live in France, refused to leave after the conference ended.

La Gaîté Lyrique officials chose not to call the police to evacuate the protestors, claiming they did not want to be responsible for young people being left homeless. While deploring “the sudden nature of this occupation” it would be “unthinkable for the Gaïté Lyrique to throw these people out onto the street in the middle of winter”, the theatre said in a statement.

All performances were cancelled in mid-December and will not resume until at least January 24. The protesters have been sleeping in a large communal space and demonstrating at the venue’s front entrance.

The theatre’s income – 70 per cent of which comes from ticket sales and 30 per cent from local authority subsidies – has ground to a halt and it says it is struggling to pay its employees.

Theatre calls for assistance

The theatre has called on the Parisian authorities to find accommodation for the migrants. However, the City of Paris believes it is for the national government to deal with immigration issues. The Paris town hall has finally launched an eviction procedure but for now the occupation continues.

“We can only go on like this for a matter of weeks”, La Gaîté Lyrique’s David Robert told Euronews. “We are in daily discussions with the Paris City Council, but a solution has yet to be put forward as to how to rehouse these young people.”

Last year, the Belleville Park Youth Collective occupied the Parisian cultural venue Maison des Métallos for three months.

La Gaîté Lyrique dates back to the 1860s, with its 1800-seat hall staging operattas and ballet in its early days. However, it fell into disrepair more recently and was turned into a culture centre.

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