Thousands of people took to the streets this Sunday, January 14, in cities and towns throughout France to demonstrate against the immigration law approved by Parliament on December 19.
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This Sunday, January 14, thousands of opponents of the immigration law took to the streets of Paris, Marseille, Bordeaux, Lyon and other parts of France to call for the “total withdrawal” of the text and “keep up the pressure” before the decision of the Constitutional Council of January 25.
“Immigration law, racist law. We don't want it, we fight it,” chanted some protesters in the capital, who braved the cold to gather at their starting point in the Republic Square, according to the AFP news agency.
“We simply demand the complete withdrawal of the law. We have come to France to work, we are not criminals,” declared Mariama Sidibé, spokesperson for the Paris undocumented collective; and former housekeeper now retired.
“It is a racist law, designed to keep us in a precarious situation and criminalize us, and this mobilization is only the beginning,” added Aboubacar Dembélé, of the undocumented collective of Vitry-sur-Seine (Val-de-Marne).
New call for protests for January 21
More than 400 groups, associations, unions and political parties have called for demonstrations against a text that “incorporates many of the ideas of the extreme right.”
“The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, tells us that this text is necessary to protect us from the extreme right. But then, to avoid Marine Le Pen, he applies Marine Le Pen's program, which makes no sense,” he declared indignantly. Marc Cecome, a former public transport mechanic, who was part of the 2,500 people who marched in Marseille, according to the prefecture.
The bill, approved by Parliament on December 19, 2023, restricts the payment of social benefits to foreigners; introduces immigration quotas; questions the automatic nature of the right of legal residence; and reintroduces the “crime of illegal residence.”
“We do not expect anything from the decision of the Constitutional Council: they will probably remove some articles, but what we ask for is the complete withdrawal of the bill,” commented Denis Godard, one of the leaders of the Solidarity March.
In Lyon, between 2,300 people (according to the prefecture) and 3,000 (according to the organizers) demonstrated to demand the same “retirement.”
Also in Bordeaux, between 2,000 and 3,000 people reported critical situations of some migrants: “We have been working and paying taxes for two years. My family will no longer receive family allowance.”
More than 200 well-known and political figures have made a new call to demonstrate against the law four days before the Council's decision.
The text of this law has been highly criticized because it was finalized after an agreement on December 19 with the support of the extreme right. The deputies and senators meeting in the mixed commission (CMP) reached an agreement on this highly controversial text, with the support of the extreme right, after long and difficult hours of negotiations.
“We are going to vote in favor of this text (of the immigration law) as it comes out of the mixed commission,” declared that day the far-right deputy Marine Le Pen.hailing it as “an ideological victory for his party, National Rally.
With AFP
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