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FRANCE

Big Roma camp evacuated from disused Paris rail line

Paris police cleared a Roma camp from disused railway lines in the north of the city on Wednesday morning, promising to place the 80 people who had remained there in temporary accomodation. But NGOs said that more than 100 others had fled the site and called such operations costly and ineffective.

A Roma campin Saint-Denis, near Paris, last year
A Roma campin Saint-Denis, near Paris, last year AFP/Thomas Samson
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The camp, on land owned by the national rail company SNCF, at one point housed up to 400 Roma and 173 "vulnerable people", including eight school-age children, were registered during a visit by healthworkers last week, according to city officials.

Four cases of tuberculosis were registered, they say.

By Wednesday morning only 80 remained and they were put up in hostels after being moved from the camp.

"A large proportion of the inhabitants have left to protect the possessions and set up a new camp," Manon Filloneau of the support group RomEurope told the AFP news agency.

Amnesty International France slammed the evacuation as "costly and ineffective", claiming that it cost about 100,000 euros, while the Médécins du Monde NGO said it would worsen the health situation and stigmatise Roma.

A Paris court ordered the move in two separate judgements last year and officials said that the health risks were "particularly alarming" and that there was a serious risk of fire.

The city council says that it is examining a plan submitted by camp representatives last month to rehouse 250 people.

More than 11,000 Roma were forcibly moved from camps in France last year, according to an NGO report that said that few were offered viable housing options.

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