Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credit: XOSE BOUZAS / HANS LUCAS / HANS LUCAS VIA AFP 4:45 p.m., March 23, 2024
With the aim of denouncing racism and demanding the “repeal” of the immigration law passed at the end of 2023, a few thousand people demonstrated this Saturday in Paris. Concretely, crimes or offenses of a racist, xenophobic or anti-religious nature increased by 32% in 2023 compared to 2022 in France.
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 3:00 p.m. from the Place de la Bastille to reach the Place de la Bataille de 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.
“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 supporting migrants and refugees, denounced "the criminalization of foreigners" and called for the "repeal" of the immigration law.
>> READ ALSO -
32% increase in racist, xenophobic or anti-religious crimes in 2023
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". "There is a rise in 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 due to ethnicity, nation, alleged race or religion", according to a report from the statistical service of the Ministry of the Interior (SSMSI) released on Wednesday.