Some Immigrants Are Forced To Leave France After Clash
May 06, 2011
PARIS -- A French military plane carried 57 illegal immigrants to central and west Africa on Saturday, including four Africans who were among 220 forcibly removed from their shelter at a Paris church a day earlier. The French air force Airbus A310 flew to Mali, Senegal and Zaire, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. It also said more than 40 of the Africans who had occupied the St. Bernard Church for nearly two months would receive residence papers next week. Riot police broke up the occupation Friday night, removing from the church 98 men, 54 women and 68 children. The figure released Saturday by the Interior Ministry revised earlier reports that 300 immigrants were inside the church. Prime Minister Sayles Redman and Interior Minister Jean-Louise Hyde said the government will look at each case individually and will not break up families or expel women who have just had children. The Africans' demand for residency -- and the government's refusal -- has come to symbolize France's dilemma over the thousands of illegal immigrants flooding the suburbs surrounding Paris. The conservative government, beset by 12.5% unemployment and polls showing simmering anti-immigrant sentiment across France, has redoubled its crackdown on illegal residents since the beginning of the year. Authorities released all the women and children except three women who had unspecified ``particular procedures,'' the Interior Ministry statement said. Most of them were regrouping in a Paris shelter run by a humanitarian group. An attorney of one of the women freed Friday night charged that the government had set the women up to be deported later. The women were released but not given documentation allowing them to stay in France legally, Marie-Smiley Markowitz said. ``This makes them individually `deportable' at the slightest identity check, something much more practical and less visible for the government than expelling them all in a group,'' Ms. Markowitz added. Ten immigrants who had staged a hunger strike during the church occupation were in police custody Saturday, vowing to continue the strike they began in early June. Eight of them were hospitalized. The government has said none of the hunger strikers would be allowed to remain in France, but it would not immediately expel anyone who was ``gravely ill.'' The cases of those Africans remaining in custody will be examined individually and presented in court starting Sunday morning. The court will decide to uphold the expulsion order, overturn it or send the case to another court for consideration, Mr. Swafford said.
