"We're a few days away from the start of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and, as far as we know, all tent camps with at least 100 people have been evacuated," said Paul Alauzy, health watch co-ordinator at humanitarian NGO Médecins du Monde and spokesperson for Le Revers de la Médaille ("The other side of the medal"), a collective of 100 organizations helping vulnerable people. It sees these "evacuations" as further evidence of social cleansing ahead of the Games, which seeks to make the most vulnerable people in the city "invisible" – as has been observed during other recent Olympic Games.

Between July 16 and 18, around 470 people were removed from camps located along the Canal de l'Ourcq, on the route of the Olympic flame on July 25, as well as along the Canal Saint-Denis, upstream of the event sites, and at Pont-Marie on the Seine, where the opening ceremony is scheduled for July 26. In some places, concrete blocks were put in place to discourage any returns or relocations. "On the other hand, this is the first time in over a year that people have been offered accommodation in the Paris region, without any selection criteria and for at least 30 days," pointed out Alauzy.

This is a significant change, since the Observatory of Evictions from Informal Living Places estimates that between May 2023 and May 2024, only around 34% of evictions from shanty towns, squats and camps in the Paris region were accompanied by offers of alternative accommodation, compared with 64% over the previous 12 months. However, Charlotte Kwantes from the Utopia 56 organization explains: "When placements are offered, it's to the new regional decompression centers, which only guarantee accommodation for three weeks: many people refuse because they have a job or ties here."

According to Alauzy: "The state has deliberately kept places open in the region, to provide last-minute shelter, guaranteeing a picture-postcard Paris during the Games." This interpretation is disputed by Christophe Noël du Payrat, chief of staff to the Paris region prefect: "These places are usually reserved for new arrivals, and we're taking advantage of the fact that there are fewer of them this year." He also denied that the recent placements in accommodation centers were linked to the Olympic Games, saying: "We relocate people as soon as a camp becomes [too] large. These relocations are less frequent this year because migratory flows have not really picked up. There's no social cleansing no attempt to hide poverty: the outreach teams estimate that around 500 to 800 people are currently homeless in Paris."

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