After more than 99 days of occupation of the Lyrique Gaîté Theater, the more than 400 young people who wanted to obtain an adapted accommodation solution were evacuated by the police on March 18, 2025. Faced with tensions, the city of Paris, owner of the premises, had seized the administrative judge.
By an interim order of February 12, 2025, the judge had enjoined the occupants without right or title to evacuate the premises, due in particular to the illicit occupation preventing the proper functioning of the public cultural establishment, forced to cancel or postpone its programming.
After being dismissed on March 20, 2025 of their request aimed at suspending the expulsion decree taken by the Paris police prefect, the occupants were again dismissed by the Council of State this Friday, March 28, 2025.
For the judges of the Palais-Royal, “The applicants do not provide any element likely to call into question the assessment made on the conditions of occupation of places, nor on the grounds, in particular security, having justified their evacuation, as well as on the urgency of proceeding there”. Beyond, the judges also said that “The prefect of Paris, an authority competent in emergency accommodation, provided, during the implementation of the evacuation, a device intended to assess the vulnerability of the occupants evacuated and to offer them accommodation solutions”.
This human drama raised the question of sharing responsibilities between the City of Paris and the State for the care of young migrants. Also, “450 accommodation places have been mobilized” To allow their welcome.
Some took refuge on the docks of Seine, but again, the appeal against their expulsion was rejected by the administrative court on Saturday March 29, 2025, on the grounds that “The installation of tents on the docks of the Seine is itself a risk to the security of their occupants as passers-by”. Two weeks after their expulsion from the Lyrique gaiety, the young migrants were evacuated Tuesday, April 1 by the police.
The facade of the Gaîté Lyrique in September 2021.
