[FRANCE] Seven Foreigners Being Deported

This is no such thing as illegal immigrants, only illegal governments.”

• “Colour Line,” Asian Dub Foundation

(Associated Press December 4th 2005)
PARIS (AP) – “It really looks like” seven foreigners arrested for having participated in the wave of urban violence in early November will be deported, declared the Minister of the Interior on  the “Grand Jury” television show.
Mr Sarkozy pointed out that 83 foreigners had been arrested during the riots. Of those 83, 40 are covered by “special protections” due to their age, how long they have been in France, or their status as political refugees, and cannot be deported, according to the Minister.
During the unrest the Minister had called for the deportation of any foreigners involved, regardless of whether they had a resident’s permit or not. The left and human rights organizations accused him of bringing back the “double penalty” which he had reprealed in 2003. [translator: the “double penaly” or double peine was a system whereby “foreigners” who were found guilty of some crime would serve their sentence and then be deported to their country-of-origin.]

Please note that the above article by the Associated Press comes from the A Toutes Les Victimes website – which was set up specifically to keep track of and respond to repression after the November riots – and was translated by yours truly. I have a “fast and loose” translation philosophy, meaning that when there is a choice between readability and the original phraseology i tend to favour the former, provided that the meaning stays the same. The original document can be seen in French.

For background to the riots, including a timeline, check out the Wikipedia entry.