French police have concluded their dismantling of the largest gypsy camp at the city of Lille, where 750 people lived, hundreds of children among them.
This was the fourth dismantling operation carried out by security forces in the same place, after the ones reported on July 25th, September 6th and 11th.
According to authorities, the dismantling, carried out by some 30 officers with the help of cranes and excavators, implements a court order from Lille’s highest authorities, with a shopping mall to be built on the cleared ground.
Of the people remaining at the camp, 40 were deported, 70 accepted a “voluntary return” proposed by migration authorities and will be transported in a charter flight to Romania, while 3 families will be resettled on the outskirts of the city.
The National Collective to Defend the Rights of the Roma (as gypsies are known in France), published a statement at its web site asking the government to comply with the August 2012 law which establishes that an individual solution must be offered in each territory to the precarious situation of those families.
A year after the implementation of that decree, the dismantlings are being carried out in several cities without alternative solutions for residency, said the organization.
The organization describes the situation of some 20 thousand Roma in France as extremely troubling and warns about the obstacles that they face in access to healthcare, social security and education.
Gypsies are the largest ethnic minority on the continent, with some 12 million estimated to live there. Despite being European citizens they suffer discrimination, unemployment and poverty.
Via PL