GETTY The migrant centre was heavily damaged by arson in Monday's attack

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The people of Forges-les-Bains, a town of 3,700 inhabitants in the southern suburbs of Paris, are violently opposed to the opening of a male-only migrant reception centre in their town. Locals are suspected of having committing a series of offences in order to delay the migrants’ arrival - with the reception centre purposely flooded last week, and had its roof set ablaze on Monday night. But now furious residents claim they only found out they would be “forced” to host 91 migrants and integrate them into their close-knit community at the end of August, and have accused the government and local authorities of ‘blindsiding’ them.

We’re not fascists Forges-les-Bains villager

The Afghan and Sudanese migrants, aged 17 to 40, were due to arrive at the reception centre – a building that actually belongs to the town of Paris – at the end of October. An emergency meeting held in the town’s cultural centre Wednesday night took a turn for the worse as locals voiced their discontent, and said that they had been “put on the spot” and “kept in the dark” by local authorities and the government. A villager said Wednesday’s meeting as “violent” and people started booing, putting the blame Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo, and singing the national anthem, the Marseillaise.

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GETTY Locals are suspected of trying to delay the migrants' arrival

But lack of communication isn’t what really angered the people of Forges-les-Bains, they said. What worries them is that the migrants are all male, and that the reception centre is located right by a nursery and a primary school. A local shopkeeper told Le Figaro: “It would have been a lot easier to welcome them if they had come with their families.” On Monday, villagers launched a petition in a bid to stop the migrants from being housed in Forges-les-Bains; it gathered a total of 1,000 signatures, which is close to a third of the town’s population. However, resigned locals know their efforts will amount to nothing.

GETTY The migrant reception centre’s roof was destroyed by a fire

A local, who believes the outbursts of violence triggered by the migrants shows just how “fed up” the local community is, added: “It’s going to happen. We have no say in the matter.” He said: “We work hard and struggle to make ends meet, and yet now we’re being asked to give our money away in order to help look after potential trouble makers?” Another local, who claims the migrants would be have been welcomed with open arms, if they had come with their families, said: “We’re not fascists - we just don’t want this to be imposed on us.”

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