The CPES Leads Struggle Against Demolitions in Toulouse, France
Featured image: Masses and activists make a rally in the popular neighborhood of Mirail, in Toulouse. Source: La Cause du Peuple.
The popular masses living in the popular neighborhood of Mirail, in Toulouse are struggling against demolitions and for access for housing, led by the Popular Committee for Mutual Aid and Solidarity (CPES).
The residents of the area organized the struggle against the demolition work of a building, the Messager. On Monday, January 12th, a rally was organized at the foot of the building, alongside the Stop Demolition collective and the Candilis collective of architects defending heritage in Mirail.
This demolition is part of the broader plan to destroy the Mirail neighborhood, which affects many proletarian and popular neighborhoods. The masses organized a campaign against this blatant injustice. The French State also does not attend to the necessities of the residents of such neighborhoods, who still wait for social houses and are facing more and more expensive rent, impoverishing the residents. La Cause du Peuple (LCDP) denounces that the bourgeoisie wants to let buildings deteriorate, demolish them, and rebuild to turn a profit. Thus, this demolition project is supposedly “justified” by the apparent state of disrepair of the facades, a product of neglect and lack of maintenance for many years.
Several organizations, among them the CPES which are struggling against the attacks against the popular neighborhoods in Toulouse also called for a debate on occasion of the upcoming municipal elections on March 15 and 22, 2026, inviting all candidates. These collectives demanded a complete review of the demolition projects and a delay to the demolitions of the buildings Candilis and Josic Woods in the Mirail neighborhood. The approach of these organizations has a lot of support, by hundreds of associations, residents, major architecture prizes, Pritzker Prize winners (equivalent to the Nobel Prize for architecture), leaders of international associations, etc. The debate took place on February 7.
Additionally we recommend to read the recent interview done by LCDP to the National Coordination of the CPES, which gives a perspective on the origin, development and work of the CPES, which has expanded and which nowadays present in many working-class neighborhoods in the country:
