Justice
Paris's Power Squatters
How a band of dedicated housing activists got the French government's attention (and participation).
Activists with the Paris-based housing rights group Jeudi Noir entered a vacant office building in broad daylight on December 31. Experienced in illegal occupations, or squats, they did not expect to be stopped. One wore a worker's hardhat. They leaned a ladder against the wall and slipped through a second-story window.
As 2012 waned, they carried in mattresses and pillows, lamps, a stove, crates of food and tanks of water, orange juice and rum, duct tape, and brown paper to cover windows against unwanted eyes.