The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.60/No.17           April 29, 1996 
 
 
Immigrants Protest In Paris For Rights  

BY NAT LONDON

PARIS-"Police Everywhere - Justice Nowhere," read one of the hand-painted banners where several thousand protesters hit the streets here March 30. It was the third demonstration in a week to support the struggle of hundreds of undocumented immigrants and protest the police repression against them.

On March 18, more than 400 undocumented immigrants of African origin occupied the Saint Ambroise church here demanding regular immigration papers.

Five days later, hundreds of police entered the occupied church at 5:00 a.m. and expelled 430 people, arresting 39 of them. The church priest had signed a letter calling on the police to intervene, and Paris Archbishop Jean-Marie Lustiger had personally authorized the action.

The police announced that the 39 arrested immigrants would be expelled from the country. The next day, however, the courts ordered their release because of errors by the police in the formal arrest procedure.

Many of the protesters were victims of the harsh immigration laws passed by former Interior Minister Charles Pasqua in 1993. Among other restrictions, the Pasqua laws mean that children born in France of immigrant parents are no longer automatically French citizens. They must apply for French citizenship at age 18 and can be refused citizenship by order of the police. Reunification of immigrant families, allowed under previous laws, has become virtually impossible.

In addition, demands for political asylum are now being systematically refused. Only 3,000 such requestss were accepted last year out of a total of 19,000. Only 16 Algerians were granted political asylum out of 2,208 applications.

Last fall, under the Vigipirate "anti-terrorist" plan, the government sent troops into train stations, the Paris metro and airports in a virtual anti-immigrant witchhunt. Nonwhite immigrants were stopped and searched at gunpoint, often four or five times a day, as the press waged an hysterical campaign against "Islamic terrorists."

Second occupation
Having been evicted from the Saint Ambroise Church, the protesters and their supporters then occupied the nearby Japy Gymnasium.

Two days later, on March 24, more than 1,000 police stormed the gymnasium and dragged out the occupants: 117 men, 77 women, and 100 children. Sixty-three more immigrants were arrested and threatened with immediate deportation. That evening, 1,500 people, a majority of African origin, demonstrated near the site of the police evacuation.

Ali and Samba, both from the former French colony of Mali, were present at the demonstration, although neither had taken part in the occupation of the church and the gymnasium.

While they have both lived in France for many years and have worked regularly, neither of them has residency papers. "We need everyone's support to force the government to give us papers," Ali said.

Near the back of the demonstration a group of workers of African origin held an impromptu rally. With a bullhorn they led chants of "Tous ensemble!" (All together!), which had been the central slogan of the massive strike wave and demonstrations against the French government's austerity drive in December.

On March 28, 52 Malians, 7 of whom had taken part in the occupation of the Saint Ambroise Church, were expelled from the country and shipped back to Mali in a government-chartered airplane. They were not in a docile mood, though, as the French policemen who accompanied the flight learned. The 52 immigrants, some of them with their feet bound together by adhesive tape, revolted in the plane, seized the clubs the police had been using against them, and defended themselves.

On March 30, some 3,000 demonstrators marched in Paris protesting the arrests and deportations and calling on the government to grant papers to the remaining families. The demonstration was called by some 30 associations and unions.

Nat London is an auto worker at Renault and a member of the CGT union federation. Jean-Pierre Dubois contributed to this article.  
 
 
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