A few thousand people demonstrated on Saturday in Paris against racism and to demand in particular the “repeal” of the immigration law passed at the end of 2023 and the “regularization” of undocumented workers, noted an AFP journalist.
“Racist laws, fascist laws, the Darmanin law, we don’t want them,” proclaimed the undocumented collectives, at the head of the procession that left around 3 p.m. from the Place de la Bastille to reach the Place de la Bataille of Stalingrad and led by a banner “Liberty, equality, papers”.
Behind marched activists from the Droits Avant association, the Solidaires union, the NPA and pro-Palestinian demonstrators.
Against racism and fascism, our weapon is Solidarity, our strength is in the streets!
#March23AntiracistAntifascist#LibertyEqualityPapers pic.twitter.com/kgyxcgWhmO
— Marche des Solidarités (@MSolidarites) March 23, 2024
[LIVE] The demonstration against racism begins in Paris!
11 days after the death of Wanys, killed by the police, the world responded to the call of collectives of undocumented immigrants, the Solidarity March and more than 200 organizations to demonstrate against state racism.
pic.twitter.com/mSAhMFF4pk
— Permanent Revolution (@RevPermanente) March 23, 2024
A “criminalization of foreigners”
“We don't know what to do to be regularized, while we work and pay contributions,” Sidibé Abderrahmane, 32, an undocumented employee in the hotel industry in Paris, told AFP.
He claims not to understand that "sectors such as cleaning, hotels and restaurants, where we mainly work", are not part of the list of "professions in tension" which should make it easier to obtain a residence permit. .
Gwenola Letaillandier, member of Cimade, an association helping migrants and refugees, denounced “a criminalization of foreigners” and called for “the repeal” of the immigration law.
On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on March 21, groups and associations called for demonstrations in France, in particular accusing the government of having “crossed a threshold in its openly racist policy: law immigration, ban on the abaya at school, reform of land law.”
A “response” to the rise of the far right
“There is a rise of the far right everywhere in Europe.
We need the most united response possible from all left-wing forces, associations and unions.
The European elections are off to a bad start, the left is not only divided, it is exploded,” lamented Tonio Gomez, member of the NPA, who took part in a rally which brought together around a hundred people in Strasbourg.
Crimes or offenses of a racist, xenophobic or anti-religious nature increased by 32% in 2023 compared to 2022 in France, with “nearly 15,000 offenses committed because of ethnicity, nation, alleged race or of religion", according to a report from the statistical service of the Ministry of the Interior (SSMSI) unveiled on Wednesday.