Protesters in Paris Rally against Proposed Migrant Law (+Video)
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Hundreds of activists, including members of associations and trade unions, took to the streets of Paris on Saturday to protest against a new draft law on migrants.
In the three largest cities of France, a few hundred demonstrators mobilized to oppose Gérald Darmanin’s bill on immigration. They also demanded the regularization of undocumented migrants.
Several hundred people demonstrated in Paris, Lyon and Marseille against the bill on immigration and against the administrative detention centers (CRA), denouncing “disposable immigration” and demanding the regularization of undocumented migrants.
In Paris, the demonstrators – 1,200 according to the organizers, 500 according to the police headquarters – met in front of the Immigration Museum, in the 12th arrondissement, to go to the Vincennes detention center, at the call of a collective “against disposable immigration” including Solidaires, Rights ahead, the League of Human Rights, the PCF or the New Anti-Capitalist Party.
Also in Lyon, more than a hundred participants, including a handful of yellow vests, marched towards the prefecture, under the flags of La France insoumise (LFI) or even Unef, noted a journalist from the AFP. “Welcome rather than repress,” proclaimed a sign, while the demonstrators chanted: “What do we want? Papers ! For who ? For everyone !”
Finally, in Marseille, they were between 150 and 200 and stopped for a long time in front of the CRA, located in the 14th arrondissement (north) of the city, chanting “papers for all or no papers at all” or “stone by stone, wall by wall, we will destroy the detention centers”.
The bill defended by the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin provides for several measures to facilitate expulsions – especially of foreign offenders -, a reform of the right to asylum and an integration component, in particular the regularization of undocumented workers in the sectors where employers are struggling to hire, such as catering.
The proposed law has drawn criticism from both left- and right-wing political forces in the country. Protesters were seen carrying banners and flags while marching through the streets.
"This project provides means to prevent people from staying on the territory instead of using them to welcome with dignity those who flee war, persecution, misery or the consequences of climate change," said one protester.
The French authorities claim that the law will facilitate the integration of migrant workers and also give the government more power to deport undocumented persons.