August 18, 2010
France is preparing to deport hundreds of foreign Gypsies as part of a drive to clamp down on lawbreaking by Roma, Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux said Tuesday.
The deportations, scheduled to start Thursday, follow the dismantling of 51 illegal camps—set up by Roma of eastern origin and by other Gypsies, including French citizens—over the past three weeks. Around 700 of the people expelled from their camps who were staying in France illegally will be flown home to Central and Eastern Europe, he said.
"We are not stigmatizing a community, but making people respect the law," Mr. Hortefeux said in a speech in Toulon, southern France.
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