Bulgarian Roma protest against 'ethnic expulsion' from France
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Some 300 Bulgarian Roma protested here on Saturday in front of the French Embassy against the policy of expelling Roma migrants adopted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
![A protestor participates in a protest held by Bulgarian Roma and their supporters outside the French embassy in Bulgarian capital Sofia Sept. 18, 2010. The protestors sent French President Nicolas Sarkozy a letter demanding an immediate stop of the expulsion of Roma migrants in France. [Xie Xuemin/Xinhua]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20100919/000cf1bdd03f0dffa2e00f.jpg "A protestor participates in a protest held by Bulgarian Roma and their supporters outside the French embassy in Bulgarian capital Sofia Sept. 18, 2010. The protestors sent French President Nicolas Sarkozy a letter demanding an immediate stop of the expulsion of Roma migrants in France. [Xie Xuemin/Xinhua]") |
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A protestor participates in a protest held by Bulgarian Roma and their supporters outside the French embassy in Bulgarian capital Sofia Sept. 18, 2010. The protestors sent French President Nicolas Sarkozy a letter demanding an immediate stop of the expulsion of Roma migrants in France. [Xie Xuemin/Xinhua] |
The people who came from all over the country, chanted slogans such as "Europe supports us", "Do not humiliate us" and "Do not corrupt us with 300 euros", while their representative handed to the embassy a letter addressed to Sarkozy.
The letter, signed by 13 non-governmental organizations, insisted for termination of the expulsion of EU citizens selected to be expelled "because of their ethnic belonging."
"People who go to France, are driven by poverty in the hope of a better life," the letter said.
The letter also said that being poor is no crime and no basis for deprivation of basic human rights.
France has deported almost 1,000 Roma migrants to Bulgaria and Romania since Sarkozy's government launched a high-profile security crackdown in July. About 42 of them were Bulgarians.
