By: V4 Agency
A migrant rescue NGO has invited lawyers, journalists and activists to join a protest with the aim of carefully documenting the authorities’ response. Recordings taken at the scene were used to make accusations of police violence. Meanwhile, a famous essayist has published several oddities surrounding the civil organisation.
The members of the migrant rescue organisation Utopia 56 had carefully planned and implemented everything to stage a protest on the Place de la Republique in central Paris, on Monday evening. During the evening hours, hundreds of tents were erected in one of the French capital’s landmark squares, in a bid to draw the authorities’ attention to the problems of migrants without shelter. In fact, however, it was all an organised stunt by the NGO in order to manipulate.
According to in information obtained by the weekly Valeurs actuelles, the NGO took care of everything. It invited lawyers, journalists and activists to attend the protest and provoke police officers, allowing activists to take photos and videos as proof of police violence.
It all started a week ago, on 17 November, when police evacuated a migrant camp at Stade de France (the national football stadium) in Seine-Saint-Denis departement, on the outskirts of Paris, where more than 2,500 migrants lived in squalid conditions.
The operation was carried out without atrocities. Authorities used 70 buses to transport migrants to 26 reception centres and sport halls in the region, but many of them refused to stay and returned to the streets.
Pro-migration Utopia 56 was also among the NGOs that played a role in assisting the evacuation process. Following the evacuation on 17 November, it recruited dozens of migrants, gave them tents and took them to Place de la Republique in downtown Paris, where they quickly set up hundreds of tents. The events were thoroughly documented by the NGO who posted several photos and videos on Twitter to – as they say – raise awareness of the migrants’ situation in government circles. Meanwhile, supporters of the NGO chanted loudly that the refugees should be left in peace to sleep.
Utopia 56 went even further, openly blackmailing authorities by stating that they refuse to leave the square unless promised that accommodation will be provided for 1,000 migrants.
In short, Utopia 56 blackmailed the authorities and provoked law enforcement officers with the help of volunteers, and then published recordings taken on the scene as evidence of police violence. When,a fter all this, several leftist politicians began criticising police for their invervention, it was mission accomplished. Jean Melenchon, the president of the La France Insoumise (France Unbowed) party talked about “scenes of rare barbarity” and an authoritarian regime.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo also reacted to the events. In a letter addressed to the interior minister, she condemned the police intervention, which she described as particularly cruel.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin instructed the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN) to investigate the incidents and promised to publish the report within 48 hours.
Eric Zemmour, the internationally acclaimed essayist, also spoke about the events, levelling harsh criticism at the Utopia 56 NGO. He said the civil organisation went so far as to force a dress code on its helpful volunteers, advising female activists, for example, to consider migrants’ sensitivities and adapt to their dressing culture. In an ironic rewording of the well-known proverb “When in Rome, do as the Romans do”, Zemmour said it would be more appropriate to say “when in Paris, do as you would in Algiers or Islamabad.”
Utopia 56 did not let it pass that police dismantled their makeshift migrant camp in central Paris in an hour and a half. They staged a demonstration on the following evening where more than 2,000 people protested for migrants’ rights and against police violence.