Participants of the rally called by the association Utopia 56 in support of allegedly homeless migrant families outside Paris’ city hall on August 5, 2025
Stephane de Sakutin / AFP
Utopia 56 has been behind many such encampments, and has even been investigated for its actions at the French-UK border.
For the past week, around 200 migrants have been camped outside of Paris’ Hôtel de Ville (City Hall) to protest against a supposed lack of proper accommodation.
Outlets have described this as a ‘mobilisation’ by desperate individuals, pointing in particular to the participation of many women and children. But the gathering—like many that have come before it—was actually organised by France’s leftist ‘Utopia 56’ activist group, set up in 2015 to help illegal migrants.
Utopia 56 has been behind many such migrant encampments, including on other occasions outside the City Hall. Indeed, its founder, Yann Manzi, is a campsite manager. The group has even been the target of criminal investigations over its actions at the sieve-like French-UK border, where it carries out its own migrant-friendly coastal patrol.
Government officials have previously described the activists as “anarchists” who want “chaos” and “to put the state in difficulty.” Yet reporters continue to fall for their spin.
During the encampment, a spokesman for Paris City Hall noted that it continues to open “centres in both summer and winter to shelter people and their families.”
The camp was cleared on Tuesday morning after local police officials issued an eviction order. Utopia 56 complained that “no solutions are proposed for the more than 300 people, including around a hundred children, who have been mobilising for a week.”
Ce soir, la préfecture de police vient de publier un arrêté d’expulsion. Aucune solution ne sont proposées au plus de 300 personnes, dont une centaine d’enfants, qui se mobilisent depuis une semaine devant l’hôtel de ville de Paris.
But writer Reyes Alina stressed that “these people are not mobilising.”
It’s you who brought them there, who shamelessly exposed them to scrutiny, as if they were circus animals. Exposed to the condescending compassion of some, to the hatred of others—to the racism of both sides.
Journalist Luc Auffret said the migrants were being transferred by bus to reception centres in Marseille, Bourges and Besançon.
Another encampment in Paris’ historic Théâtre de la Gaîté Lyrique lasted for more than three months.
Michael Curzon is a news writer for europeanconservative.com based in England’s Midlands. He is also Editor of Bournbrook Magazine, which he founded in 2019, and previously wrote for London’s Express Online. His Twitter handle is @MichaelCurzon_.
