Their house is squatted by a hundred people: rubbish, excrement, broken things… ransacked, the magnificent building becomes a “dump”

Après sept mois d’occupation illégale, une bâtisse en Seine-Saint-Denis est devenue un véritable “dépotoir” (photo d’illustration). Nolan Issac – UNSPLASH

A magnificent building was squatted for 7 months in Stains, in Seine-Saint-Denis. It is now "completely ransacked".

After seven months of illegal occupation, one of the oldest buildings in the city of Stains, in Seine-Saint-Denis has become a “dumping ground” in the words of its owners, reports Le Parisien.

“Slum”

No more lawn, make way for rubble and mud. Inside, cigarette packets, rubbish, excrement… Window panes were broken, cupboard doors and the fireplace ripped out. Two sisters inherited this house in 2023 with their brother and two nephews. Their mother lived there until her death that same year.

At the height of the 'occupation, up to 120 people squatted their building and their land where huts were even built. The residence became a “slum” , says the one of the sisters.

“A mafia organization”

According to the According to testimonies collected by Le Parisien, Roma people mainly moved into the area from mid-July. The mayor of Stains, Azzédine Taïbi, confirmed this to our colleagues, referring to “a mafia organisation which breaks into houses and then rents them to Roma families”.

The squatters were evicted on January 28. The owners hired a caretaker to monitor the house and complain that the authorities did not did not react earlier.