Paris theatre occupation: Management set to abandon building

Staff working at Paris theatre Gaîté Lyrique will abandon the building unless authorities take action today (28 February) to provide accommodation for more than 400 migrants that have been occupying the building since December, the venue’s management has said.

In a statement issued on its website on Wednesday (26 February), the theatre, which is owned by Paris Council, said it is “no longer capable of managing, maintaining and operating its building”.

While performances have been cancelled, and the building is closed to the public, staff have been at the venue, supporting the migrants.

“For 79 days, staff members have been present at the site 24/7 on a voluntary basis, despite not being qualified or employed to do so,” the statement said.

“For 79 days, an expanded security team has worked with professionalism 24/7 to ensure the safety and security of the people in the occupied areas.

“For 79 days, La Gaîté Lyrique’s pleas for help with this sudden occupation and unsuitable conditions have fallen on deaf ears.”

‘Untenable overcrowding’

The management, which last week counted a total of 446 occupants within the building, described the situation as being “at a tipping point” due to “untenable overcrowding” that has resulted in “increasingly severe and frequent violence”.

“The fire alarm has been set off several times over the last few days,” the statement said.

“The most recent serious incident was a fire started in the occupied areas on 21 February, which required the intervention of the Paris fire department and the national police.

“On Tuesday [25 February], the facility’s employees, who have expressed their full confidence in and support for management on several occasions, exercised their right to refuse to work on the grounds that the situation posed a serious, imminent danger to themselves, to the people occupying the space, and to the building.”

The company that operates the theatre, La Gaîté Lyrique SAS, has written to the City of Paris saying it will suspend its contract with the city today.

“Should the authorities fail to take action by Friday, La Gaîté Lyrique SAS and its staff will be forced to leave the facility and suspend its contracts with the service providers in charge of fire safety, security, cleaning and hygiene, maintenance, and waste collection,” the statement said.

“La Gaîté Lyrique and its entire staff will be willing and able to resume management, upkeep and operation of the building as soon as the competent authorities provide shelter to the occupants and meet the security, safety and hygiene conditions required for employees and residents to return.”

The occupation of Gaîté Lyrique theatre began on 10 December, after 250 migrants attended a free conference at the left-leaning venue.

Gaîté Lyrique said in a statement at the time that it was “unthinkable” for the theatre to “throw these people out onto the street in the middle of winter”.

Paris’s Socialist-led council, which owns the building, has said it is unable to find other accommodation for the migrants, who all arrived in France claiming to be aged under 18, and has requested that President Macron’s minority centrist government tackle the issue.