evidence: Mayotte became a French department in 2011, having previously been an administrative division of the Comoros before the country’s independence in 1975. The department has a large Comorian population, that have fled the dictatorship and difficult living conditions of the archipelago, ranked among the poorest countries in the world. As a result, in 2019 Mayotte accounted for more than half of foreign expulsions from French territory, totalling around 27,000 people. Charities regularly denounce abusive practices and hasty evictions. [...] A few days before their bangas were demolished in May, many people were still living there. This was the case with Zouliaty Halifa Bakany. With her grey hair, and a salouva – the traditional dress of Mayotte – tied around her waist, this fifty-something woman from Anjouan, the Comorian island closest to Mayotte, described a feeling shared by many of the inhabitants questioned: "I am like a discarded object. I have nowhere to go. I have lived here since 2014, and in Mayotte for 27 years. I don’t know what to do. When the machines arrive, I’ll stand in front of the house and watch my possessions being destroyed."