Migrants playing table football in the Gaite Lyrique cultural centre. (Image: Getty)
A historic theatre in the heart of has been occupied by 450 young , forcing businesses in the area to the brink of bankruptcy and leaving local residents frustrated. has been closed for nearly three months after a group of migrants, mainly from and the majority of whom say they are minors, took over the site.
The group, part of the Collectif des Jeunes du Parc de Belleville formed by young migrants who were sleeping rough in Belleville park as well as supportive residents, was originally invited to a conference on refugee rights on December 10, news outlet France Info reports. About 200 migrants under the age of 18 settled there and were then joined by more. The theatre’s closure has devastated , with reporting huge losses.
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The theater has been occupied by 450 migrants. (Image: Collectif des Jeunes du Parc de Belleville)
Elia Cordier, who owns the Bistrot de la Gaite, said her revenue has plummeted, putting her business in serious danger.
“I am losing thousands of euros every day,” she told the . “On a normal Saturday I would clear €2,500. Today I’ll be lucky if I make €200. If this carries on, I will be bankrupt within one or two months.”
Cordier also claimed she had received death threats after speaking out against the situation.
She previously told that the migrants engage in anti-social behaviour outside her restaurant.
“They hang around outside my terrace, smoking joints and fighting among themselves,” she said. “Not only do we no longer get theatregoers because the theatre is shut, but we don’t get passers-by either. They’re being frightened away by all these young men.”
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Migrants sleeping on tables in the Gaite Lyrique theatre. (Image: Getty)
Other business owners and residents have also expressed concerns about rising crime and drug dealing in the area since the occupation began.
The 60 employees of the theatre have now walked out, handing over control of the building to local authorities.
David Bayard, a Paris resident, told the Daily Mail that the occupation was a threat to French culture.
“Paris is the centre of French culture. This theatre is important to French culture. We used to go to this theatre often. Now this occupation has taken that away from us,” he said.
His wife Tiffany, 39, questioned why the government had not provided alternative housing for the migrants.
“Why can’t the state find a safe place for these people to sleep? Closing down this theatre is an act of cultural sabotage,” she said.
The group was originally invited to a conference on refugee rights in December 2024. (Image: Getty)
On February 13, a judge issued an eviction order stating the migrants had to leave within one month, Liberation reports. The news publication added that the theatre lost “several hundreds of thousands of euros” due to the closure and the cancellation of planned events.
A spokesperson for La Gaite Lyrique said on February 26: “After 79 days of occupation by the Belleville Park Youth Collective, who now number more than 440 occupants, La Gaîté Lyrique believes it is no longer capable of managing, maintaining and operating its building.
“For 79 days, La Gaîté Lyrique has worked with various NGOs, including Doctors Without Borders and Samu Social, to provide care and access to individual rights. 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.
“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.
“On February 21, 446 occupants were counted in the facility. The situation in the building is at a tipping point, with untenable overcrowding resulting in increasingly severe and frequent violence. The fire alarm has been set off several times over the last few days. The most recent serious incident was a fire started in the occupied areas on February 21, which required the intervention of the Paris fire department and the national police.
“On Tuesday, February 25, 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.
“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.”