Shanty towns and Gypsies fall foul of World Cup

[struggle4progress]

· Homeless forced out for rugby fans, charities claim
· City braced for protests after 'brutal' clean-up

Angelique Chrisafis in Saint-Denis
Friday September 7, 2007
The Guardian

... Near the stadium in Saint-Denis, police this week cleared around 600 Romanian Gypsies from a shantytown where they had been living for more than a year. The shacks, made from scraps of wood and plastic sheeting in a disused factory compound without proper sanitation or rubbish collection, threatened to be an eyesore for corporate hospitality tents ...

"On the eve of the Rugby World Cup, the government seems to want to hide the misery of the Roma by systematically evacuating Roma camps," Médecins du Monde said in a statement, citing mass evictions around Lyon and near Saint-Etienne, where the Scottish team is based. Malik Salemkour, deputy president of the French Human Rights League, said: "France wants to pretend these people don't exist and make itself look beautiful instead of dealing with its problems." ...

Two homeless support groups said people sleeping rough or in tents in central Paris had been told to move on by police and threatened with €135 fines if they returned. Hotel owners who temporarily housed homeless people had reportedly told them to leave to make room for fans.

As homeless people prepared protests for this weekend, the Saint-Denis prefecture denied it had evicted Gypsies because of the World Cup. The interior ministry said decisions were made by local authorities, not central government ...

http://sport.guardian.co.uk/rugbyworldcup2007/story/0,,2164305,00.html