The June 7 vote by the Paris Council was unanimous. On Saturday, September 16, the Jardin Villemin (Villemin Garden) in the 10th arrondissement of Paris was renamed after Mahsa Jina Amini. The 22-year-old Iranian died on the same date, three days after her arrest in Tehran by the morality police for violating the Islamic Republic's dress code.
Her death provoked an unprecedented protest movement in Iran. Paris posthumously awarded the Kurdish-born student honorary citizenship in October 2022. "It was our duty to defend this aspiration for freedom for women and the Iranian people," explained Laurence Patrice, the 10th arrondissement's elected representative in charge of remembrance and the veteran community. "We wanted to pay tribute to her in a place that is very important to the Kurdish community."
Since 2002, when the refugee center in Sangatte (northern France) was dismantled, the Villemin Garden has become a meeting place for migrants, particularly Afghans. Located close to the Gare du Nord train station, "Little Kabul," as it is nicknamed, is a stopping-off point for many of them. On a sunny Monday in late August, Afghan exiles sat on the benches in front of the basketball court, but refused to speak with Le Monde.
Yakou, a 29-year-old man with a smile on his face, agreed to express himself. He said he was from Sudan and had been in France for just over a month. "Every day, it's the same. I have a coffee. I come here, I look for work at Pôle Emploi [employment office] and I look for somewhere to sleep," he explained in stammering Italian. Asylum seekers have often occupied the premises with sleeping bags before being removed by the police.
Close to the Gare de l'Est train station on the right bank, the park extends eastward to the Canal Saint-Martin. At 20,000 square meters, it's the largest green space in this arrondissement. Chestnut, plane, oak and other deciduous trees stand side by side with flower beds and exotic decorative shrubs.
At the foot of an apartment building, Le Poireau Agile, a collective gardening site created in 2005 and managed by an association, is a haven of peace for pollinating insects and home to hundreds of plant species. Its plots cover an area of 220 square meters. On the promenade, a diverse population strolled by. Alongside the migrants, Sunday joggers trotted along the paths, local residents read the newspaper and strollers waited by the sandbox while the little ones played with their shovels and buckets.
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