French Court Blocks Deportation of 7 Roma

An ethnic Roma woman smiles back to journalists as entering the transfer bus, shortly after arriving from France at the international airport of Timisoara city, 500 Km north-west from Bucharest, Romania, 20 August 2010. Photo by EPA/BGNES

An administrative tribunal in France's Lille has canceled the orders for deportation of 7 Roma in the first instance that court action is preventing the much controversial expulsion measures.

The court in the northern French city declared that the cases of the 7 Roma did not meet the legal standard of real and immediate threat, as cited by The International Business Times.

Since August 2010, the French authorities have dismantled about 128 camps of Roma squatters, and have deported about 900 Roma back to their home countries Bulgaria and Romania on the grounds that they presented security threats to local communities in France and had violated local legislation.

The measures have spurred much criticism against France around Europe. However, the Lille court ruling is the first successful challenging of the deportation measures in court.

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