Threatened with eviction, the inhabitants of Camisards hit the streets of Alès

Une vingtaine de manifestants ont distribué des tracts. MIDI LIBRE – ALEXIS BETHUNE

80 personnes risquent d’être expulsées après la trêve hivernale, à Vézénobres.

" Demonstration against the eviction of 80 people who own their homes without compensation. In a few lines printed on leaflets distributed to motorists, the twenty demonstrators present on the roundabout of the Alès sub-prefecture summarized their arrival this Saturday morning.

A feeling of abandonment

We have to rewind to around ten years ago to understand the complex affair which triggered the anger of the inhabitants of the Parc des Camisards, located in Vézénobres. At the end of the 2010s, the residents had independently purchased these  "light homes" for around ten thousand euros on the land of an owner residing in the Philippines , died in 2021. His son then took over the plot. "We are here to inform the public of this charade, and we will fight to the end", assures Charles Munoz.

He himself, like others, was sentenced to expulsion at first instance, and is awaiting his appeal hearing. "If’he sells the land, it’s to raze everything or re-let the accommodation for more money", continues the sixty-year-old, also accused of subletting his property. However, the occupants of chalets and bungalows pay a property tax, proof of their lessor status. And, until 2018, a monthly sum was paid for the occupation of the land. "We stopped paying this rent because the land was deteriorating, and we were left to our own devices. We took care of everything, even the water and electricity on the premises,” protests Charles Munoz. "We can't just let go of people who have always been upright, have no debts, and who are at home! We own our homes, but we are treated like squatters and delinquents,” he emphasizes. "The worst part is that some evicted people have not even been summoned to court, and certainly will not be", adds Jens Gentemann.

In the meantime, residents have denounced certain practices of the lessor. But for these suspicions, no complaint was filed…
To cover their backs, the residents, at their own expense, hired an expert who concluded that the most regulatory solution would be for each of the owners to pay a sum of 100 € for field installation. An agreement that the majority of them would be ready to adopt. However, no agreement has been reached, and residents report not being able to contact the owner of the land.

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