A couple of days ago, another illegal camp of nomadic travellers was installed on a parking lot in Thionville-Metzange. It was only a short stay though because the authorities reacted rapidly and immediately signed a formal notice asking them to vacate the premises. After 24 hours, the visitors had gone.
Nonetheless, resolving these illicit camps is not always that easy, and travellers continue to occupy territories for several weeks around the Moselle and Meurthe-et-Moselle areas, much to the dismay of local residents, users, business owners and elected representatives, who often point to the authorities’ slowness to react. Especially since damage is frequently reported.
It’s a topic which angers the mayor of Metz, François Grosdidier, as well. He recently announced that municipal police officers are authorised to intervene.
In an interview with “Semaine” on 23 November, the mayor emphasised that dialogue no longer suffices. “It is a situation which cannot carry on anymore. Legislative developments are needed”, declares François Grosdidier who foresees two measures to be taken.
The mayor explains his methods: “We need to strengthen security around Parc des Expos, we need to ‘bunker’ it. The aim is to physically prevent any kind of trespassing.” The site needs to be remodelled.
That is not all: “We trusted the powers of dialogue and communication, unsuccessfully. Therefore we need to use force and the municipal police to avoid further intrusions.”
From their side, France Bleu Lorraine has contacted the Moselle police, without any success so far, to ask whether the municipal officers legally have the right to react when witnessing a camp of nomadic people. François Grosdidier believes that there is a need to “put things back in their rightful order”, and that the police cannot hold back and observe when a crime is being committed.
“We have invested five million euros into the Eurometropolis in Metz to construct a large space for passage and reception, conforming to the departmental scheme concerning travellers”, the mayor reminded people on France Bleu. “We spend €600,000 in order to support these reception spaces. Yet, people of the travel community continue to camp on public parking lots, as well as on private lots and private properties.”
“It is a crime which is committed right underneath the observation of our officials”, laments the mayor.
