“Churches must remain open to everyone, but a minimum level of respect is required. If you behaved like that in a mosque, they would throw you out, and rightly so,” Olivier* grumbles. This Christian is used to praying in the Montriond place of worship. Last week, he found three Maghrebi homeless people eating or sleeping under blankets and “breaking the peace with their snoring”.
The situation has worsened since the caretaker went on sick leave three months ago. He told us that one day he even detected urine in the church (…).
“You’re allowed to do that in mosques,” says the 53-year-old Moroccan, who has already been reminded that you’re not allowed to do that here. Jean-Daniel Courvoisier, one of the pastors concerned, confirms the problem without going into further detail. The issue will be discussed by the Church Council on Monday evening.
Faced with this situation, the president of the council had the place of worship evacuated and closed last Thursday “until a solution is found that is in keeping with Christian charity and respect for this place of worship, which cannot be turned into a squat…”, according to Marlyse Dormont.
According to our interlocutors, this matter has nothing to do with the occupation of the Saint-Laurent church in Lausanne in 2014 by around 50 activists who wanted to “support migrants”.
First name altered
20 minutes / Suisse : des migrants occupent une église de Lausanne, cette dernière ferme temporairement par crainte de devenir un squat. Le concierge affirme avoir, un jour, découvert de l’urine… – Fdesouche