Europe

Paris police ordered to purge Roma: Leaked report

Paris police ordered to purge Roma

A report shows that French police in the capital city of Paris have been ordered to systematically purge the Roma people from the city.

A newly-leaked internal memo, published by the French daily Le Parisien on Wednesday, revealed that police in Paris’ sixth division had been ordered to remove Roma out of the affluent neighborhood.

The memo added that the order came from the French capital’s police headquarters and was effective immediately.

The disclosure has sparked outrage across France, with the country’s Interior Ministry saying the situation has now been rectified.

This is the latest report of racial profiling within the French police force in just over a week.

On April 8, Amnesty International released a report, saying the French police regularly harass and use violence against the Roma.

Amnesty cited several examples of police brutality against the community, including spraying tear gas inside tents where children were sleeping and beating up one man in Marseille in southern France.

According to the rights group, many of France’s 20,000 Roma people live in extreme poverty in makeshift settlements with little or no access to basic services, and at constant risk of forced evictions.

Amnesty also said many of the 10-12 million Roma living in Europe face “the daily threat of forced eviction, police harassment and violent attacks.”

The international rights group condemned the European Union for being “reluctant to challenge member states on the systemic discrimination of [the] Roma that is all too evident.” It also accused the European Commission of failing to take clear and decisive action to address violence and discrimination against the Roma.

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