Ministry document targeted Roma
Roma race was singled out in the recent closures of illegal traveller camps, despite government claims to the contrary
IMMIGRANT support groups may take legal action after a leaked document revealed the government deliberately targeted Roma in a crackdown on illegal traveller camps.
After the European parliament passed a resolution last week calling for a suspension of expulsions of Roma from France, Immigration Minister Eric Besson insisted the recent wave of gypsy camp closures and expulsions of immigrants was not aimed at the Roma race particularly.
He added they were not seen as such, but as citizens of the countries whose nationalities they hold (such as Romania and Bulgaria).
However a decree sent on behalf of Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux to French prefects on August 5, leaked by an internet site, Le Canard Social, urging them to carry out regular closures of illegal camps, uses the phrase “as a priority, Roma ones” in several places, stating this to be President Sarkozy’s wish.
It also says “obviously it is also necessary to prevent any further installation of illegal Roma camps,” and asks the prefects to check weekly on the “presence of illegal Roma camps” as a distinct category from “travellers,” whose camps are also to be checked.
The president of Gisti, a body helping immigrants, Stéphane Maugendre, said the document was “an incitement to discrimination.”
The group is studying the document to see if it constitutes a crime, in view of action in the Conseil d’Etat to have the decree annulled.
Former Socialist leader François Hollande called the decree “illegal and immoral” on a political show on France 5 and Socialist MEP Harlem Désir has asked the European Commission to take legal action against France to stop its “unacceptable stigmatisation” of the Roma.
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Photo:Joshua Davies
