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Roma and Gypsy families expelled from their homes in France
19 August 2010
The deportation of France’s Roma, Gypsy and Traveller communities, as part of President Sarkozy’s new anti-crime initiative began today.
Two planeloads of 93 people were scheduled to arrive in Bucharest this afternoon as part of a ‘voluntary reform procedure.’ Each adult that 'volunteers' to return is entitled to 300 euros compensation while children will receive 100 euros each.
Although they are EU citizens, the families are required under French law to have a valid permit to remain in the country after three months. 300 camps are expected to be dismantled by October 2010, while 700 Roma will be expelled by the end of August, reports the Guardian.
Human rights groups and the left-wing opposition have called the crackdown a crude and divisive policy being used to bolster the government’s right wing credentials.
Jean-Pierre Grand, a member of the governing UMP party has compared the raids to the round-ups of Jews and Gypsies during Nazi occupation. Teodor Baschonsi, Romania’s foreign minister told Radio France Internationale that he is ‘worried about the risks of populist provocation and the prompting of certain xenophobic reactions at a time of economic crisis.’
The European Commission states that it is closely monitoring the expulsions and that, while France does have the right to take measures regarding foreigners living on their territory, EU law requires that each person’s case is dealt with individually and the EU’s freedom of movement laws must be respected. The French government claims that its deportation procedure has complied with all legal mechanisms.
Almost 80 per cent of French people polled supported the deportation, according to a poll taken by Le Figaro newspaper, released on 6 August 2010. This number of supporters is likely to decrease, however, as images of police brutality during the camp raids are shown on television.
The Roma people are the largest ethnic minority community in Europe, including an estimated 7.9 million people. There are 15,000 Roma of Eastern European origins in France. The Roma still experience high levels of discrimination and inequality in many European countries including the UK. Runnymede has published two publications on the Roma community which can be found by clicking on the links below.
