FRANCE STARTS REMOVING ROMA CAMPS
Baku, August 8 (AZERTAC). France has begun dismantling illegal Roma (Gypsy) camps following a presidential order for hundreds of such camps to be removed.
On Friday, about 100 people were moved on after police emptied a camp in the central city of Saint-Etienne.
The Roma had been living there in makeshift shelters and tents since May.
It was the first such move since President Nicolas Sarkozy announced a week ago plans to shut 300 illegal camps within the next three months.
Mr Sarkozy also said members of the Roma community who had committed public order offences would be deported immediately.
The order was a response to last month`s attack on a police station in the Loire Valley town of Saint-Aignon by a group of young Roma.
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