“Everyone needs to mobilize. We won’t be able to make things happen otherwise. We must also speak to all our elected officials so that they too can put the pressure on.” These are the slogans that can summarize the public meeting organized in Maignelay-Montigny on Friday December 13.
At the origin of this gathering: the collective opposing creation a reception center for unaccompanied minors (UMA). This must take place not far from the town hallin what was once a home for the elderly. The project would have been decided between the Oise departmental council, the SAHLM of Oise and the Coallia association.
1,500 signatures on the petition
Around sixty people listened to the arguments of the representatives of the collective. Four people from a larger group of around 400 people, united in a group created on social networks. This small hard core has spent the last few months towing and signing a petition.
“We gathered 1,000 online signatures and 500 handwritten ones,” explains Cédric Roger, one of the members of the collective. Also added is the mayor of Maignelay-Montigny, also against this project. “It was presented to me without any consultation,” recalls the elected official.
“They are illegal immigrants”
“I am especially worried about safety, for our children,” the members of the collective continue in substance. “We must understand: those we call unaccompanied minors were previously called illegal immigrants. We can’t even be sure that they are really minors, since this is based on an unverifiable declaration.”
and added: “We don’t know how they will be educated.” The members of the collective also fear that some drug trafficking will develop on site and in the surrounding area.
“We are told that we could have a good football team”
Members of the collective claim to have great difficulty obtaining information about this establishment. “We know that there is already development work going on inside,” they suggest.
At most, the collective obtained a meeting with the management of the SAHLM before the public meeting. “The director told us that with a little luck, we could have a good football team with these minors. It’s limited…”
A demonstration in Beauvais?
For the members of the collective, it is above all a question of targeting the Oise departmental council and its elected officials. “If necessary, we will demonstrate in Beauvais, in front of the council headquarters,” enjoins Norbert Depresles, another member of the collective.
At the start of the meeting, he very quickly evacuated a sensitive point: the accusation of political exploitation. After all, the person concerned is marked: he ran in the legislative elections of June and July 2024 under the label… Reconquest!
“No political recovery”
“Yes, I have a political hat,” assumes the resident of Maignelay-Montigny. “From the start, I was well aware of the accusations of recovery. But I am in this collective, because I decided a few years ago to flee the Paris region.
He insists: “I am the father of three little girls. Yes, my group works a lot on these themes. But if the petition had been launched by someone on the left, I would have signed it straight away.” In the meantime, go to Beauvais for the demonstration?
