Police storm refugees in Paris church

BY CECILIA BROMLEY-MARTIN
OVER 1,000 RIOT police stormed a Catholic church in Paris last week to expel about 300 illegal African immigrants who had occupied the building for seven weeks.
Smashing down the church doors with axes, the police then used batons and tear gas to round up the refugees who had been protesting the change in French law which, they claimed, rendered them illegal immigrants. Other police remained outside the building to control several hundred supporters who staged a sit-down protest many had been camping outside for much of the past week.
The proceedings at St Barnabus church in the poor Barbes district of Paris started just after dawn on Friday 23 August. The church bells began to toll as word spread that the police were on their way. Mattresses were cleared from the central aisle and a barricade was swiftly erected from pews and chairs. The police forced their way past with their truncheons, to find that parish priest Fr Henri Coinde had hastily begun to celebrate morning Mass in an attempt to hold off the raid. When the plan failed, an African woman took his microphone and sang while the police started to cordon off the immigrants. There was little major resistance from the refugees, and the operation took just under two hours.
There were fears that the 68 children present would be separated from their parents, but the protesters were divided into three groups: families, single men and sympathisers.
The French Interior Minister, JeanLouis Debre, explained that the police were sent to deal with the protesters after many of them had outstayed their visas he has since announced that 30 to 40 per cent of the protesters will be given residence papers. Prime Minister Alain Juppe has also promised that no families will be split; papers will therefore be given to those with spouses or children who have legal residence status, but most of the single men will be expelled from France.
Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger of Paris called the refugees, mainly from Senegal and Mali, with a handful from Haiti, "these poor people, who are victims twice over". There was, however, huge public support for the protesters. During their seven weeks in the church, they were visited and supported by a host of French film stars and celebrities, including Danidle Mitterrand, widow of President Francois Mitterrand.
Ten men who had been on hunger strike and taken no solids for 50 days were taken by ambulance to military hospitals outside Paris, but two of them refused treatment. Several others who were left bleeding after the clash were also taken to hospital, but there were no serious injuries.