French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday (28 July) announced his government is to order police to round up allegedly illegal migrants of Roma ethnicity for expulsion from French territory and destroy their encampments. The announcement was the result of a cabinet meeting dedicated to the subject called after officers shot and killed a gypsy youth in the Loire Valley, provoking a riot by others of his community.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday (28 July) announced his government is to order police to round up allegedly illegal migrants of Roma ethnicity for expulsion from French territory and destroy their encampments.
The announcement was the result of a cabinet meeting dedicated to the subject called after officers shot and killed a gypsy youth in the Loire Valley, provoking a riot by others of his community.
France's Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux said Wednesday that half the country's illegal "travelling people" camps would be dismantled within three months, and that Roma from Bulgaria and Romania would be sent back home if they broke the law.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has ordered the dismantling of 300 illegal camps of Romany and traveling folk. The announcement, which has attracted criticizm from human rights groups, followed crisis talks with ministers in Paris on Wednesday. Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux said that half of France's illegal camps would be dismantled in the next three months, and that illegal Roma immigrants breaking the law would be immediately deported. "Tax inspectors will be sent to inspect the households of the inhabitants of these illicit and illegal camps because a lot of our compatriots are rightly surprised to see the caravans pulled by certain powerful cars," he said.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has ordered the dismantling of 300 illegal camps of Romany and traveling folk.
The announcement, which has attracted criticizm from human rights groups, followed crisis talks with ministers in Paris on Wednesday.
Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux said that half of France's illegal camps would be dismantled in the next three months, and that illegal Roma immigrants breaking the law would be immediately deported.
"Tax inspectors will be sent to inspect the households of the inhabitants of these illicit and illegal camps because a lot of our compatriots are rightly surprised to see the caravans pulled by certain powerful cars," he said.
Maybe he should set up work camps where the roma can "earn" their freedom. keep to the Fen Causeway
