Several thousand people marched in Paris and other French cities against the immigration law brought by Gérald Darmanin and the “Wuambushu” security operation in Mayotte.
Several thousand people, including many undocumented migrants, marched this Saturday in Paris, but also in other French cities including Rennes and Marseille, against the immigration law carried by the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin, and against the “Wuambushu” security operation in Mayotte, noted AFP journalists.
In Paris, the demonstrators, who responded to the call of the Collective “UCIJ 2023″ (United against disposable immigration”), marched behind a banner proclaiming “No to the Darmanin law. Against repression, confinement and expulsions, for a migration policy of reception, regularize”.
A “racist” law
The immigration bill, which the government has just postponed until the fall, “is a racist law, which aims to criminalize foreigners” and lead to “more expulsions”, denounced Aboubacar, 31. , an undocumented Malian.
“The problem is not immigration, it’s exploitation and rogue bosses,” added this employee of a subcontractor to the Post Office in Alfortville (Val-de-Marne).
He has been fighting with his colleagues for 17 months to obtain his regularization.
The participants also intended to protest against the “Wuambushu” security operation carried out by the authorities in Mayotte, to dislodge irregular migrants, mostly Comorians, from the insanitary slums of this overseas department.
A law “inspired by the National Rally”
“The way in which undocumented Comorians are treated is unworthy of a country like France”, castigated Marie-Christine Vergiat, vice-president of the League for Human Rights and former MEP (Left Front).
The Darmanin bill and the operation in Mayotte are linked, explained to AFP Saïd Mhamadi of the Appel de Marseille, a civil organization of the Comorian population in the Marseille city, where 200 to 300 people demonstrated.
“On the one hand a law, certainly postponed, but clearly inspired by the ideas” of the National Rally, and on the other an operation “which brings “chaos and failure” and “wants to fight against violence but by violence”, has he denounced.
The Darmanin law “resonates with the deplorable, unbearable operation in Mayotte which flouts the fundamental rights of people on the spot”, also denounced the Marseille deputy of La France Insoumise Manuel Bompard.
“Darmanin in the Vilaine”
In Rennes, more than 500 people marched in a good-natured atmosphere, to cries of “Down with the police state” or “Darmanin in the Vilaine” (the river that crosses the Breton capital Editor’s note).
“I came out of solidarity with the Comoros and to protest against France’s brutal measures in Mayotte, it’s very violent and there is a way to manage it differently,” Théodore Sobezy, cable editor, told AFP. 32 years old.
In the morning, a hundred people had gathered in front of the courthouse in Nîmes.
