Blog 3: French police clear Roma camp in centre of Roubaix
In the
town of Roubaix in France, the French police have cleared a Roma (Gypsy) camp.
In this camp were many people who were from Romania, Bulgaria and the former
Yugoslavia. Interior Minister Manuel Valls said that not many of the Roma
people could be integrated with the French people and the society. He also said
“the majority should be sent back to the borders.”(bbc news Europe, September
27, 2013) The mayor of Roubaix Pierre Dubois stated that the town people asked
if the police would clear the camp for reasons of “security, hygiene and major
inconvenience to local residents.” It was also stated that the town of Roubaix
is already providing accommodations for 150 Roma at two different sites. Many
of the Roma children that were staying in the camp were enrolled in local
schools and when the evictions happen there was no offer for new accommodations,
so that the children could stay in those same schools or even be moved to
another school. The Roma people are
treated as if they were the hot potato in France; they are widely discriminated
against in Europe. Mr. Mills encouraged councils on the local level to
dismantle illegal Roma slums, systemically. The plan to get the expelled
residents back to their own countries is to give them free flights.
In
reading this article it is hard to believe that police of any country would go
in and move people who were living in caps because they were not welcomed
anywhere else. To read that these people had children enrolled in local schools
that were around or near the camps, and that they were not given any
accommodations to allow their children to go back to the same school or even go
to another school is not right. This is taking the rights of those children
away from them, the right of the children to go to school and learn to better themselves.
In the United States we have the no child left behind acts that allow that all
children have to and are given the right to go school no matter what; but in
other countries they have no laws that state that children have to go to
school. The fact that the Interior Minister said himself that the majority of
the people should be sent to the boarders is discrimination all over it. It is
shocking to think that in today’s day and age there is still people who think
that just because people are somewhat different than you that they are not the
same value.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24296405
Lindsay Gebbia
September 27, 2013
9:42
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