21.02.2014 France: renewed fire in a Rroma settlement

Metronews (2014) reports on a fire in a Rroma settlement in Marseille. This is the second fire, shortly after a fire in Bobigny took the life of a little Rroma girl. The 45 residents of the settlement remained unharmed. There is no agreement on the cause of the fire. While eyewitnesses report a burning object that was thrown from the highway next to the camp, the authorities do not want to jump to any hasty conclusions. Philippe Dieudonné, from La Ligue des Droits de l’Homme (LDH), sees meanwhile a very real potential for violence by aggressive residents and other Rroma haters. A mob of fifty people had charged a Rroma settlement in Marseille in September 2012, forcing some of the inhabitants to flee and setting the camp on fire (Metro News 2012). For the residents of the presently affected settlement, alternative accommodation is being sought. Gauriat/Chatelais add (2014) that approximately 20 informal camps with around 1,000 residents exist in the area of Marseille. For the settlement affected by the fire, an eviction was planned, as the organization Rencontres tsiganes announced. The camp had been evicted three times in the past, the last time in December 2012. The prefect of Bouches-du-Rhône applied to the owner of the land, the operator of the French rail network Réseau Ferré de France, to protect the land against further occupations (Rosnoblet 2014).

The eight-year-old Rroma girl that was killed by a fire in a camp in Bobigny last week, was remembered with a funeral march at beginning of this week. The mayor of Bobigny announced that it was a shame for a rich country like France that there are people who still have to life in slums. She stressed that the right to adequate housing for all residents of the European Union has to be ensured (Libération 2014).