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Reuters
French police eject illegal immigrants from their squad near Paris in early 2020.
On Friday, thousands of immigrants outside the legal framework and in solidarity with them demonstrated throughout France to demand a settlement of their situation in light of the harsh conditions imposed by the Corona epidemic and its consequences on them.
These protests, the fourth of its kind since the start of the current health crisis, took place after the demonstrations in May, June and October on the occasion of International Migrants Day. It included some 50 French cities, including Paris, Marseille, Bordeaux, and Strasbourg, and was held in a quiet environment amid tight security. However, the program for the demonstration in Paris, which took place between 6.30 p.m. and 8 p.m., was not fully implemented because the police prevented the demonstrators from reaching the headquarters of the Paris city headquarters in the “Châtelet / Les Al” neighborhood with security justifications.
The protesters carried slogans reminding the French that “undocumented immigrants are in danger”, and others saying “the national effort is us” in reference to their efforts to help people during the current health crisis, as well as torches that they ignited during the rallies in mercy to their companions who died, without solving their situation, during Aventura the illegal immigration away from their families.
Local testimonies confirmed that the majority of these migrants without residence documents are from sub-Saharan Africa. “We are here for all illegal immigrants in France,” said Sebi Ahmeda, a member of the “meeting of clandestine immigrants in Montreuil”, adjacent to Paris, and pointed out bitterly that “during the Covid-19 (epidemic) we are the ones who do all the work, and we clean the hospitals, while they enjoy. Those who have a short-term job keeping the heat in their homes, the government has forgotten. “
For his part, Lasana (Al Hassan), a 19-year-old undocumented immigrant from Mali, who is 50 years old, explained: “As we don’t have documents, the businessmen exploit us and when they want they don’t pay us money.” “We have been here a long time, but our ways of life are blocked,” added this illegally worker from the construction sector.
French authorities had forcibly evacuated several sit-ins of illegal immigrants in recent months, drawing criticism from local human rights and humanitarian organizations. However, last September, the French government ordered to facilitate the naturalization of immigrants who were on the front lines to face the Crown epidemic in recent months.
A government official said that 334 people would benefit from this process, while representatives of clandestine immigrants responded that this measure casts ashes in their eyes and does not concern them, but is only about immigrants with legal residence documents.
It should be noted that the number of immigrants outside the framework of the law in France is estimated at 300 to 600 thousand people.
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Source: French news agency “AFP” in French / television “France 24” in French / agency “Swiss Info” in Arabic
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