The group 'The Other Side of the Coin' brings together 80 charities working for equality. They recently published a report highlighting that the practices used by those organising the Paris 2024 Olympic Games are no different to those used by previous Olympic hosts. It is a recurring practice at these events to evict vulnerable people and carry out a frantic clean-up in order to present an immaculate city to the world.

The group accused the organisers of the Paris Olympics on Monday of 'social cleansing' the capital. It said immigrants, squatters, the homeless and sex workers were being targeted. The report describes these actions as following: "the same playbook used by other Olympic hosts."

"We hoped that this edition would be different from previous ones. We made numerous proposals to this effect," the report says, according to AFP.

"Today... we can say that Paris 2024 will not be different from previous editions and will really accelerate the exclusion of the most vulnerable. The study prepared by the group focuses on many aspects, but places particular emphasis on the actions of the French police to clear the streets of Paris of illegal occupants, as well as migrant camps and homeless people.

The report provides data. For example, there have been 26 evictions of migrant camps so far in 2024. This is "almost as many as in the whole of 2022 (when there were 30)". This suggests that the authorities are rushing to cover up unresolved problems as the Games approach.

Since April last year, a total of 10 properties occupied by migrants have been evicted, including a former factory near the Olympic Village. 1,967 people have been affected.

Many migrants - two thirds of the 6,000 detained by the authorities in 2023 - have been sent to regional reception centres outside the Paris region. This is reportedly because the French authorities are concerned about the lack of housing space in the capital.

The report also notes the alleged attitude of the authorities, "They have always maintained that the evictions and repression are not due to the forthcoming Olympic Games, which start on 26 July. "This argument was weak before and is now completely unconvincing," the report concludes.

Areas frequented by sex workers in the north of Paris and the Bois de Vincennes, east of the capital, have been subject to "increased police pressure". This has led to identity checks, arrests and expulsion orders for dozens of people.

"This summer, Paris and its region will be able to present themselves in a way the authorities consider favourable: a sterile 'City of Light', with its misery almost invisible, without significant informal areas, clean neighbourhoods and forests, without beggars, drugs or sex work," the report concludes. In highlighting a situation that the groups have often denounced, there is an obvious irony in these words.

The group 'The Other Side of the Coin' has continuously organised protests and demonstrations in Paris. Last December, they organised a demonstration near the Sacré-Cœur. Using banners and graffiti, they protested against the practices of the Paris 2024 organisers. The protest called for equality for the most disadvantaged people. They live in areas that have traditionally been neglected and abandoned.