Seventy Romanian Roma Set Camp Outside Prefect’s Office In Saint-Etienne, France

The Roma set camp right under the windows of the prefect’s office camp, meters away from the French town’s mayoralty. The people say they are waiting for local authorities to offer them homes, the paper said.

On Jul 17, a former school in which 120 Roma people had initially taken shelter was evacuated upon the order of the town’s new socialist mayor and the Saint-Etienne mayoralty and organizations backing immigrants’ rights have been at loggerheads ever since.

The Roma say they are discriminated in Romania as well and only 15 of them accepted to return to the country after they were evicted from the school. The rest are waiting for  local authorities to offer them homes in a region where real estate pressures are not as high as in other regions across France.

The mayoralty said it would be unfair to house people who recently came to the country, when the region is confronted with a large demand for social housing.

Numerous organizations, including the Saint-Etienne bishop, protested against the eviction of Roma people from the school and said they are shocked by the manner in which local authorities handled the process. Local authorities burnt tires inside the building to make sure the Roma wouldn’t be able to go back and live there.

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