French President Nicholas Sarkozy ordered Wednesday the dismantling of 300 illegal Gypsy camps across the country and the deportation of their occupants as a part of a crackdown on increasing crime and urban violence.
He promised last week a crack down after riots erupted in two French towns over the week-end, one of which involved an attack on a police station by some Gypsies.
The rioting in the small Loire Valley town of Saint Aignan, reportedly saw dozens Gypsies attacking the local police station, cutting down trees and setting several cars afire. The violence erupted after a gendarme shot a Gypsy dead for not halting at a checkpoint.
Sarkozy's order came after an emergency Cabinet meeting held earlier in the day to discuss the rioting. However, representatives of the Gypsy community, known as Roma, were not invited to attend the talks.
"Within the next three months, half of the illegal camps will be dismantled--camps and squats--that is to say some 300," said Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux after the meeting, adding that the new measures "are not meant to stigmatize any community, regardless of who they are, but to punish illegal behavior".
Hours later, the President's office said in a statement that the illegal camps were "sources of illegal trafficking, of profoundly shocking living standards, of exploitation of children for begging, of prostitution and crime". It added that a new legislation would be introduced soon to make easier the expulsion of Roma travelers from France "for reasons of public order".
The Roma community in France consists of hundreds of thousands of Gypsies living in the country as part of long-established communities, as well as recent immigrants, mainly from Romania and Bulgaria (According to one theory, the Gypsies had migrated from Punjab, straddling India and Pakistan since partition of India in August 1947. An international festival of Romas was held a few decades ago in the Indian Punjab).
Citizens of Bulgaria and Romania can enter France without visas, as their home countries are members of the European Union. But they require work permits to work in France and residency permits for settling in the country on a long-term basis.
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June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.