Migrant fear in rural France recedes, but doubts remain
FORGES-LES-BAINS: When the quiet French town of Forges-les-Bains was chosen to host a centre for young male asylum seekers in 2016, there was uproar.
The disused hospital earmarked for the project was firebombed, some 250 residents staged a protest and NGO workers assisting the group of Afghans had their car tyres slashed.
“At first people said we were terrorists... and that we were going to give hash to the children (in the school next door),” said Asif Qaderi, 23, who was part of the first group bussed to the leafy town 50km south of Paris.
But the fears expressed in the town of 4,000 – of home break-ins and girls at the school next to the centre being harassed – came to nought.
The 91 men, who had been sleeping on the streets of Paris, instead devoted their energy to restoring the neglected building, pursuing their asylum claims and learning French, guided by the Emmaus Solidarite housing charity.
They also raised chickens and sheep, dug a vegetable garden, built a football field and held barbecues that helped break the ice with the community.
But the centre is now being closed – a symbol of opposition in many parts of France, where 60% of people interviewed in a June poll said the country had “too many” migrants.
Local mayor Marie Lespert-Chabrier, who made the state promise to move the Afghans on after two years, is still smarting at being forced to take the foreigners in, leaving her “caught in the middle” between youths fleeing war and misery and a hostile population.
While admitting that the fears of the refuseniks proved unfounded, she is adamant that her town has done its bit for the migrants who have poured into Europe in the past three years.
Forges-les-Bains was one of dozens of towns selected to host migrants as part of a major relocation programme in 2016.
To Ahmadzi Gul, 19, it felt like a second home.
“Forges is a bit like a village in Afghanistan. It’s quiet and the people are nice,” Gul, who was scarred by police violence on the migrant route in Bulgaria, and bound for a shelter 30km away said.
“We regret having to leave.”