'Tent city' shames Paris into helping its homeless Final Edition

Mdecins du Monde's "tent city" campaign - in which 300 homeless people were given tents to sleep in on the streets of Paris - prompted such outrage and sympathy that government officials were forced to act. Mdecins du Monde and other campaigners for poor people welcomed the move but s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inIndependent (London, England : 1986)
Main Author Alex Duval Smith in Paris
Format Newspaper Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London (UK) Independent Digital News & Media 11.08.2006
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Summary:Mdecins du Monde's "tent city" campaign - in which 300 homeless people were given tents to sleep in on the streets of Paris - prompted such outrage and sympathy that government officials were forced to act. Mdecins du Monde and other campaigners for poor people welcomed the move but said more efforts would be needed as winter approached. "It's a first step in the right direction," said Graciela Robert of Mdecins du Monde. Small communities of eight to 10 tents, emblazoned with the Mdecins du Monde logo, sprang up along the Quai d'Austerlitz and the Canal Saint-Martin. Some Parisians complained but many others empathised with the homeless in their neighbourhoods and bought them the tents, which retail for only about EUR40 (pounds 27). As a result, Mdecins du Monde estimates there are about 500 tents on the streets of Paris.
ISSN:0951-9467