Ministère de la crise du logement (Ministry of the housing crisis)

You remember the tents on the Canal Saint Martin, to support homeless people? Well there is more... Three associations have now decided to squat a huge building (1 000 sq m2 - 10 760 sq ft) near La Bourse (24, rue de la Banque) to create a "Ministry of the housing crisis". Ironically this building belongs to a bank who left it empty for 3 years. The "Grand opening" was last evening and, of course, PDP was there. The atmosphere was rather festive: lots of artists, lots of press and lots of supporters... It may seem odd that anyone can walk into a building and settle down, but, in France, if you can prove you've lived in a place for more than 48 hours it is very hard to throw you out.