Don’t blame 2024 Olympics for France’s social issues, says sports activities minister | Paris

France’s sports activities minister has warned in opposition to making the 2024 Olympic Video games in Paris a scapegoat for folks’s anger and frustration over social issues.

Amélie Oudéa-Castéra was talking after rows over the excessive value of tickets for the Video games and solutions that homeless folks had been to be moved out of the town to make room in funds inns for sports activities followers and vacationers.

“We shouldn’t make the Olympics the scapegoat of all our frustrations. It’s essential to not distort the info and blame the Olympic Video games for all our social issues,” Oudéa-Castéra mentioned on Wednesday. “I don’t need us to combine every thing up. We do have main challenges over emergency shelter, nevertheless it’s not the Olympics’ fault,” she informed France 2 tv.

She mentioned plans to maneuver homeless folks to areas outdoors Paris had been began in April this 12 months and denied this was linked to the Video games.

“Immediately now we have round 200,000 emergency locations, a report since 2017, and we all know there’s a really sturdy focus within the Île-de-France … now we have to cope with this and supply a greater service. We can’t blame the Olympics for all the issues of society,” she mentioned.

The housing minister, Olivier Klein, made a hyperlink between the Video games and the issue of a scarcity of emergency shelter for homeless folks within the capital throughout a speech to parliament on 5 Could.

He mentioned funds inns most frequently used for homeless folks and asylum seekers meant to supply rooms at a premium throughout the Rugby World Cup in September and the Olympics subsequent July. He mentioned as many as 5,000 emergency lodging beds could possibly be misplaced.

The concept of making new amenities round France paid for by the state to briefly accommodate homeless folks from Paris, a lot of whom are migrants, is already inflicting concern in some areas.

Agence France-Presse reported final week that the federal government had been asking native prefects since mid-March to create short-term reception centres in all however two French areas as a way to liberate resort area in and round Paris.

Philippe Salmon, the mayor of Bruz, in north-west Brittany, voiced his opposition to plans for a brand new centre in his city of 18,000 folks. “We aren’t in favour of putting in such a holding centre in our municipality below situations that we take into account unworthy,” he informed French media.

Eric Constantin, the top of the Abbé Pierre Basis in Île-de-France, mentioned he doubted this could obtain a long-lasting answer to the issue.

He additionally forged doubt on the suggestion that the timing of the Olympic Video games and the programme “to ship migrants to the provinces” was a coincidence, suggesting the federal government may need to guarantee there “aren’t any extra camps earlier than hundreds of thousands of individuals arrive in France”.

Paris Olympics organisers have additionally confronted fierce criticism over the price of tickets. The opening ceremony, to be held alongside the River Seine, will value between €90 to €2,700 to observe from one of many 100,000 locations obtainable on the decrease quayside. Between 500,000 and 600,000 locations on the higher quays are anticipated to be provided free of charge. Tickets for the closing ceremony on the Stade de France will value between €45 and €1,600.

The president of the organisers, Tony Estanguet, mentioned the goal was to make the occasion open to the “biggest quantity attainable”, insisting that the 5.3% of tickets that value €400-plus would assist finance 4m tickets costing €50 or much less.