01.10.2014 Lille: evacuation of an informal Rroma settlement

Bergès (2014) reports on the evacuation of an informal Rroma settlement in Lille. Numerous families inhabited it. However, the journalist does not report any exact numbers. The Rroma were repeatedly exposed to the pressure of the police and local residents, who demanded the closure of the site. Under the threat of eviction, the last remaining inhabitants have now abandoned the settlement. The camp was built on wasteland next to a motorway junction. The site will now be immediately fenced and handed over to the authorities of a real estate program, who wants to create office and residential premises on the parcel. At an adjacent intersection, there are other Rroma camps that have not been evicted yet.

Also in Loos, in Nord-Pas-de-Calais, one discusses the eviction of an informal Rroma settlement, while the affected Rroma and their supporters plead for a referendum. The focus of the discussions is especially concerned with the location of the settlement: the parking field of the prison of Loos (Mocellin 2014).

It should be emphasised that the forced evacuations of informal settlements complicate a long-term integration of the Rroma immigrants. The forced evictions or the harassment of residents do not solve the existing problems and the integration question, but simply move them from one location to the next. The rigorous expulsion of the minority reflects the unwillingness of the French government to engage in an active integration policy. Also, through the biased media focus on the informal settlements, the impression is created that there are only Rroma belonging to the lower class, who are poorly educated. However, the Rroma from the informal settlements constitute only a small portion of all Rorma in France. According to estimates of the Rroma Foundation, 100,000 to 500,000 Rroma are integrated and live unobtrusively in French society. They belong to the middle or even upper-class and are constantly ignored by the French media, the public and politicians. Out of fear of discrimination, a lot of these integrated Rroma keep their identity a secret (compare Nord Éclair 2014, Radenovic 2014).