{"id":1573,"date":"2014-04-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-04-16T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/%20rroma.org\/16-04-2014-6th-arrondissement-turmoil-around-a-racist-police-letter-against-rroma\/"},"modified":"2022-07-26T13:57:36","modified_gmt":"2022-07-26T12:57:36","slug":"16-04-2014-6th-arrondissement-turmoil-around-a-racist-police-letter-against-rroma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/fr\/16-04-2014-6th-arrondissement-turmoil-around-a-racist-police-letter-against-rroma\/","title":{"rendered":"16.04.2014 6th arrondissement: turmoil around a racist police letter against Rroma"},"content":{"rendered":"

Several French \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tnewspapers report on an internal letter from the police of the 6th \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tarrondissement in Paris. The note by a police officer orders the police of the \u00a0arrondissement to locate all Rroma living \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tin the streets and to expel them: \u201cFrom \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tnow on and until new directives to the staff of the 6th arrondissement \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tare given, all Rroma families living in the streets have to be located day and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tnight and systematically expelled\u201d<\/em> (Le Monde 2014). One senior police \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tofficer, interviewed by Le Parisien, expressed to be snubbed by \u201cviolent and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tillegal\u201d nature of the text. The letter is illegal because it is explicitly forbidden \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tin France to mark people based on their ethnicity and to make them the targets \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof interventions. The mayor of 6th arrondissement, Pierre Lecoq, was not \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsurprised by the tone of the letter and announced that he did not want to see \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRroma families with small children in the streets. The number of Rroma families \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tin the area of Saint-Germain-des-Pr\u00e9s has tripled in the last two months, Lecoq \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tstated. He also perpetuates the racist notion of child-trafficking gangs that deliberately \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\teducate Rroma children to beg and steal. Jean-Pierre Colombies, delegate of the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tnational police syndicate, said that he regretted the fact that police officers \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\thave to implement instructions from the police headquarters, which are directed \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tby ruling politicians. The expulsion of Rroma from one place to another doesn\u2019t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsolve anything, he added. The Paris police prefecture in turn communicated that \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe proposed approach directly derives from the directives of Pierre Lecoq, who \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdemanded decisive actions against the Rroma. G\u00e9rard Taieb, attorney for \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpersonal rights, discredits Lecoq\u2019s argument as pure hypocrisy. Taieb stated \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthat it was not about the protection of the children. By expelling the families \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfrom the streets, the minors and infants are not helped in any way. The \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdetection and expulsion of a group of people based on their ethnic affiliation was \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tclearly illegal. This view was assented by the new interior minister, Bernard \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCazeneuve, in his public statement.<\/p>\n

The new spokesman for \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe French government, St\u00e9phane Le Foll, stated that there were clear \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tguidelines and rules on how the police should behave in the event of such circumstances, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tregardless of internal proposals. Le Foll also denied estimates that there was an \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u201cinvasion\u201d of Rroma in 6th arrondissement. No increase in the number of Rroma had \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbeen recorded. Le Foll added that it must not be forgotten that there are actual \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tslums and one should try to make the Rroma immigrants move back to their \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcountries of origin. At this point, Le Foll must be contradicted, since this \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmigration happens because of discrimination, poverty and lack of perspectives. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMost immigrant Rroma want to integrate, have a job and lead a normal life. This \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tintention is denied them repeatedly and decidedly, as one hear clearly in an \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tinterview with Louis de Matignon Gouyon on Europe 1 (20 minuntes 2014, B\u00e9guin \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t2014, Carez 2014, Europe1, Le Figaro in 2014, Le Monde in 2014, Le Parisien \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t2014, Politi 2014). \u00a0<\/p>\n