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| Europe |
| Thousands rally in Paris over immigration |
| 2006-07-04 |
| Thousands of people marched through Paris on Saturday to protest plans to tighten restrictions on immigration and step up deportations of immigrant families with children who are in the country illegally. Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy's new immigration law, which passed in parliament Friday, makes it harder to gain residency permits and ends the practice of automatically granting papers to illegal immigrants who can prove they have lived in France for 10 years. Sarkozy also has vowed to send home at least 25,000 illegals this year, up from about 20,000 in 2005. Many leaders of the Socialist opposition attended Saturday's march, including former Finance Minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn, former Prime Minister Laurent Fabius and former Labor Minister Martine Aubry. Polls suggest illegal immigration is a top concern ahead of next year's presidential elections, with many in France fearing that immigrants poach jobs, soak up rich state welfare payments and commit crimes. In October, Sarkozy temporarily suspended plans to deport thousands of school-age illegal immigrants and their families until the end of the academic year on July 4. With that date fast approaching, some activists say they are ready to hide families from police. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 French people want to worry about emigration. London is stuffed with French people fleeing socialist-success-punishments (income tax). |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2006-07-04 06:24 |