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Nicolas Salin
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In Dijon, squatters created in 2010 the “Lentillères free district”where they defend a freed life of market logics. The Ministry of the Interior sees in this ” Only Zad Urban in France A home for “contestation”, to which the town hall intends to put an end.
Not far from the rich mansions in the city center and the aisles of the park, this island of dense vegetation is barely discovered. In this jungle Surprising, a labyrinth of trails leads to a habitat disparate : huts with hesitant architecture, old squatted buildings and caravans marked by the mold.
“But we do not claim the status of ZAD”
“Welcome to the Lentillères free district,” announces a panel invaded from Lierre. “We are a hundred”, evaluates “Tristan” (assumed first name), 31, who has lived there “for ten years. I had no accommodation. I settled here out of necessitybut also by choice: I wanted to participate in the fight against a destructive project, ”he said in AFP.
In March 2010, activists invest these former market gardeners, where residents still cultivate small tits, to prevent a real estate project of 1,400 dwellings. Over the years, the 8 hectare site is equipped to live in autarky: a bread oven, a vegetable garden, a “canteen at free prices” and a “poop bar” (dry toilets).
“But we do not claim the status of ZAD”, specifies Tristan in reference to “areas to be defended”, the most famous of which was set up by opponents of the airport project in Notre-Dame-des-Landes. “We are a self-managed district,” he preferred. “And solidarity,” adds Camille, 32, to the lens for five years. Many working occupants financially help those in need. “Anyway, we need very little because we recycle, we eat our own vegetables,” she explains. ” It’s a viable economic model. We have proven it. We all live together: families, exiles… ”she adds. “Here we welcome those who do not don’t fit In the boxes, ”confirms Tristan.
An undocumented area
In November 2019, the occupants of the lentilères obtained partial abandonment of the real estate project, but the town hall continues to claim their “regularization”. It is true that the existence of this lawless area In the middle of Dijon was bad for the mayor of the time François Rebsamen, a Macron-compatible socialist who seeks to become a minister (it will be made at the end of 2024 for regional planning).
Accentuating the pressure, the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin announced in 2023 no longer tolerate “No ZAD”. According to him, the lens are the “only Zad Urban in France” and are among 42 sites likely to “give birth to extremely violent challenges”.
1000 requests for pending accommodation
Dijon “needed housing”, adds the socialist Nathalie Koenders, who became mayor after the appointment of François Rebsamen to the government. “We have 1,000 requests pending, “she said. It therefore relaunches a real estate project, of 60 dwellings this time, on 1.14 hectare of the ZAD. “We will not build on the rest,” she promises to AFP, provided that the occupants “legalize” their situation, for example by creating an association which would sign a lease with the town hall. “I put my hand. But I give them a ultimatum until October. Otherwise, it will be expulsion, ”warns the mayor.
Nathalie Koenders denounces in particular living conditions “Deplorable”. She admits that she never entered the ZAD but as proof of it a fire that occurred last January. According to the first deputy mayor Antoine Hoareau, who had gone there, the fire revealed a “real slumfar from the idyllic vision ”conveyed by the occupants.
“Need time”
The Zadists have still not stopped their response to the town hall, saying they “need time”, according to Tristan. In the quest for a solution, it will also be necessary to count on the hundred residents who cultivate a small garden with lentilères and who are also against his “concrete”.
“No, I don’t want them to build,” Roland Garrot, 77, tells strawberries in his vegetable garden. “I have been here for about 40 years, before the free neighborhood. Since they settled, I have never had a problem. »»
With AFP
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