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Outside La Gaîté Lyrique theater in central Paris, groups of young men stand around on the stairs chatting or smoking. The exterior of the building is covered with posters for concerts and events but also banners with protest slogans.
"Housing emergency," reads one. "Unaccompanied minors on the street," declares another.
The banners are one of the external signs that several hundred people have been occupying the theater for over six weeks.
The Belleville Park Youth Collective, which organized the initial occupation, says they are mostly young migrants who are homeless. The group says they have been living on the street due to a dispute with French authorities over whether they are minors or not.
The 'right' to a 'roof over their heads'
The current standoff was sparked on December 10, when about 200 people occupied the theater. Over the weeks the numbers have swelled and there are now believed to be about 350 people sleeping inside every night. One of the activists outside the theater put the number closer to 400.
The venue initially decided to negotiate with the group, rather than trying to get the police to remove them by force.
The protesters have hung banners on the theater's facade. /CGTN
"We deplore the sudden nature of this occupation, but we share the demand of these people to obtain a roof over their heads, as is their right," said the theater's director in an open letter to the Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, published last month in the French newspaper Libération.
As a result of its stance, the theater has had to cancel or relocate events. Weeks of lost revenues mean La Gaîté Lyrique is now under significant financial pressure. While the building itself is owned by city authorities, the venue largely funds itself through ticket sales and other sources of revenue.
Stalemate between city authorities and national government
The standoff has also rumbled on because the city authorities and the national government have not been able to agree on a response.
Local authorities have urged the government to use empty public buildings and other spaces to house the young people for now.
"We deplore this lack of dialogue between the state services and those of the city of Paris," wrote the theater's director in the open letter. "This inaction clearly endangers the people accommodated and leaves the team to face the situation alone, without any timetable for resolution."
However, the Interior Ministry, which has toughened up France's immigration policies since elections last year, has refused to wade into the dispute so far.
For now, the several hundred people sleeping inside La Gaîté Lyrique during a cold snap in the French capital are refusing to move out – and the audience of millions waits to see what happens at the end.