City Hall has rolled in large boulders to dissuade migrants from setting up camps outside an official humanitarian centre.The boulders appeared under a flyover at Porte de La Chapelle in the 18th arrondissement, of northern Paris, where migrants often sleep rough while waiting for one of the 400 spaces in the nearby official humanitarian welcome centre. [...]
The boulders are designed to make it hard for people to take shelter under the bridge, however those waiting for spots at the centre are managing to sleep in between the huge rocks.
"It's difficult to sleep here," one migrant told Le Parisien newspaper after the boulders were brought in.
This isn't the only piece of so-called "hostile architecture" Paris authorities have installed to stop migrants from making camps in the city.
After the camps at Stalingrad Metro was cleared, metal grills were erected blocking off areas where refugees had set up camps, such as along Avenue de Flandre and the Place de la Bataille-de-Stalingrad.
How douchey
Despite the person quoted, this seems more helpful than harmful.
This is not to say that the city was trying to be helpful here. It makes it harder to deploy a conventional tent, for example. But if I'm temporarily displaced and come back to my encampment to find this...? "Physical structure? Hell yes." I've slept on the ground, and I'd much rather cozy up in between some rocks than to be exposed on an open plane. What's their next plan for deterrence? A bread truck housing a working bakery that they employ to drive around and annoy me with the smell of fresh baked goods? A task force that visits my office floor at night after I've gotten a job and razes the cubes to replace them with floor-to-ceiling walls in an attempt to prevent me and my coworkers from being too chatty?
I'd go for those. In fact, can we bring this to a vote and try to speed it along?
Seattle has been doing some similar douchey shit. And it's just as ineffective.