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Half Of All Gypsy Camps In France To Be Dismantled
Posted on: 2010-07-29 03:00:30 France's Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux announced Wednesday that half the country's illegal "travelling people" and Roma camps would be dismantled within three months, and that any caught breaking the law would be deported. 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. Hortefeux made the announcement after a meeting of ministers called by President Nicolas Sarkozy in the wake of violence between itinerant groups and police. Hortefeux vowed that itinerants who committed offences would undergo "virtually immediate" deportation to their countries of origin. A communiqué issued by the Elysée’s press service following Wednesday’s meeting took particular issue with the Roma population, stating that Sarkozy had judged the illegal camps of Roma communities on French territory to be “inadmissible”. The text specified that 300 illegal camps had been identified as sources of “illicit trafficing, unacceptable living conditions, exploitation of children, prostitution or delinquency”. |