In the last week Roma camps in Paris, Hellemmes (Nord), Villeurbanne and Vaulx-en-Velin (Rhône) have all been evicted by the authorities.  Remaining Roma camps are on high alert. The  European Commission yesterday told France that it is monitoring these evictions “to ensure that European rules are respected”.  According to Medicins du Monde, there are currently around 15,000 Roma in France. This figure has stayed the same for the last 15 years, despite waves of evictions and deportations.

In the early hours of Saturday 7th July Noureddin Mohamed, a Sudanese man who had been in Calais for four years, was found dead in a canal near the sub-prefecture of the town.

Police state that Noureddin stole a mobile phone, was then pursued and jumped into the canal where he drowned. Family, friends and activists on the ground do not believe this version of events and are demanding that the police open an enquiry.

You can read more, in English, on the Calais Migrant Solidarity website.

On Friday 8th June a revolt took place at Lesquin detention centre near Lille following an confrontation with police.  Several detainees smashed some reinforced glass with the leg of a metal bed, and two managed to escape from the centre.

The following Monday four detainees appeared in court, and were each condemned to a 6 month suspended sentence.

A young “Albanian, Afghan or Palestinian” migrant aged about 20 was stabbed to death last Wednesday 16th May in Ouistreham, in Basse-Normandie, reports France 3.

His body was recovered on Wednesday evening on a dual carriageway in  Ouistreham. According to initial enquiries, he was stabbed several times when he tried to board an HGV parked in a lorry park which was due to go to Portsmouth.

Gendarmes have arrested two individuals suspected of being involved in the murder. The investigators suspect the murder was the result of a disagreement between migrants or with a trafficker.

At 9.30am this morning (02/05/12) around 70 sans-papiers occupied a UMP office in Lille, reports La Voix du Nord . They were protesting against “the stigmatisation of sans-papiers and immigration in the discourse of Nicolas Sarkozy’s campaign”, and demanded “the regularisation of the sans-papiers who were arrested during the previous occupation of the UMP offices in Lille”. Following negotiations with the police, the occupiers left the offices at 11am, and marched towards the city centre. There were no arrests.