An investigation was opened after the destruction of a Roma camp in Villeron (Val-d'Oise) by residents helped by the municipality, we learned on Tuesday February 7 from the prosecution and the gendarmerie.
More than a hundred people met on Sunday afternoon at the Bois de Villeron, near Roissy-en-France, north-east of Paris.
They were demonstrating against the installation since October of a dozen Roma families, according to the gendarmerie of Val-d'Oise.
A backhoe on the camp
"
People were vindictive towards the Roma who had to leave in front of the invectives of the crowd
", indicated to AFP the commander of the gendarmerie group of Val-d'Oise Quentin Petit, specifying that the mayor of Villeron Dominique Kudla (SE) was present at the declared demonstration.
After the departure of the sixty or
so Roma, "a certain number of individuals proceeded to destroy the huts built illegally
", reported Colonel Petit.
The mayor of Villeron called in a backhoe to destroy the camp.
Asked by AFP, he could not be reached.
An investigation, entrusted to the Isle-Adam research brigade, was opened by the Val-d'Oise gendarmerie group, under the direction of the Pontoise prosecutor's office.
It “
aims to clarify the sequence of events
”, determine “
the role of the different people
” and “
whether or not there has been violence against people as well as damage to property
”, specified the prosecution.
“Anti-Gypsy slogans”
These are “
not desirable practices in the department
”, reacted Monday, February 6, the prefect of Val-d’Oise Philippe Court, on the sidelines of a press point.
“
The evicted families were shocked and upset by what happened
”, reported Anthony Ikni, general delegate of the Romeurope collective, denouncing “
anti-gypsy slogans
”.
Well before the demonstration, local residents “
began to harass the inhabitants of the shantytown.
Some said that if they did not leave, they were going to burn everything
”, assures Anthony Ikni who accuses
the municipality of Villeron of “
complicity ” and “
passivity
” on the part of the police, who “
witnessed the illegal eviction without reacting
".
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"
This is an unacceptable attack, the inhabitants do not have to take justice into their own
hands", denounces the Romeurope collective, which brings together 48 associations and collectives defending the rights of people living in squats, slums or on the street. , Roma or designated as such.
An eviction procedure was underway before the administrative court of Pontoise, said the urban community Roissy Pays de France, owner of the land, specifying "
not to condone
" the violence.
