Sarkozy under fire for taking aim at Roma

France's Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux announced on the 28 July 2010 that half the country's illegal 'travelling people' or 'itinerant population' and Roma camps would be dismantled within three months, and that any caught breaking the law would be deported.

Separtely, French politicians as well as advocates for immigrants and housing rights reacted strongly to a video shot on 21 July 2010 of police forcibly removing women and children of African descent from a makeshift tent housing camp in a poor Paris suburb.

• Primary Source

BBC News, 12.8.10: France rounds up hundreds of Roma http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-10955717

Website: OHCHR: Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/

OHCHR: Press Release, 12.8.10: Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination considers report of France http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=10272&LangID=E

France24, 29.7.10: France to dismantle half of all illegal itinerant camps http://www.france24.com/en/20100728-france-dismantle-illegal-itinerant-camps-roma-paris-travellers-nomadic

Website: French League of Human Rights (Ligue française des droits de l´Homme et du citoyen) (LDH) http://www.ldh-france.org/

BBC News, 29.7.10: France to shut illegal Roma camps and deport migrants http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-10798440

EurActiv, 27.8.10: Roma controversy kick-starts French election campaign http://www.euractiv.com/elections/roma-controversy-kick-starts-fre-news-497221

BBC News, 6.8.10: France starts removing Roma camps http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-10892669

France24, 3.8.10: What future for the Roma if they are forced out of France? http://observers.france24.com/en/content/20100803-what-will-happen-roma-they-are-sent-back-country-romania-switzerland-geneva-hortefeux-discrimination-france

The Guardian, 3.8.10: Sarkozy, the descent into chaos? (via PressEurop) http://www.presseurop.eu/en/content/article/306561-sarkozy-descent-chaos

France24, 3.8.10: Video of forced eviction in Paris suburb prompts shock http://www.france24.com/en/20100730-video-forced-evacuation-paris-suburb-provokes-shock-tent-women-police-children

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