Gypsy evacuations denounced
2007-09-03 20:56
Paris - A Paris-based aid group accused the French government on Monday of trying to hide the misery of Gypsy camps by evacuating several shantytowns ahead of the Rugby World Cup.
Medecins du Monde, or Doctors of the World, cited two recent cases of authorities evacuating camps inhabited by Gypsies, also known as Roma, in the run-up to the international tournament that starts on Friday and runs through October 20.
About 400 Roma were forced to leave a site in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, on August 28, and 80 others were evacuated on Wednesday from a camp in Venissieux, near the central city of Lyon, Doctors of the World said.
World Cup matches will take place in Saint-Denis and in Lyon, among other French cities.
The aid group said the operations disrupted its work in the camps, including caring for mothers and babies as well as fighting tuberculosis.
"On the eve of the Rugby World Cup, the government seems to want to hide the misery of the Roma by systematically evacuating Roma camps," Doctors of the World said.
A spokesperson for the Interior Ministry said the decision to evacuate camps came from local officials and not the central government.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, elected in May, often came under fire from human rights groups for ordering Roma camps evacuated while he was interior minister.
- AP