PARIS
Despite authorities in France being legally required to provide housing to asylum seekers, Hussain spent over a year sleeping rough in the streets of Paris after he submitted his application for international protection.
There was a small park surrounded by a stone wall in the northeast of the city where he could sleep without being disturbed by the police, and the underside of a balcony near Gare de l’Est, one of the main train stations, where he sought shelter, often with other asylum seekers and migrants close by. Sometimes, he slept in the middle of the Place de la République, the iconic square in the centre of the city.
Some migrants held in administrative detention centers (CRA) in France have been sent to prison for refusing to take PCR tests. Lawyers have called the practice "illegal" and denounced it as a violation of "fundamental rights".