Illegal Immigrants Ousted From Haven

Mon., Feb. 24, 1997

Associated Press

French police forced about 400 illegal immigrants at dawn Sunday to leave a church they had been occupying to protest the conservative government’s immigration policy.

The immigrants, mostly Chinese women and their young children, had demanded negotiations to legalize their status in France.

They had entered the Saint Jean Baptiste Church in eastern Paris on Saturday, after a march by tens of thousands of people protesting the government’s proposed immigration law.

The bill, which Parliament is to vote on Tuesday, is aimed at strengthening existing laws on illegal immigration.

Socialist Party leader Lionel Jospin said the march showed that “numerous men and women … have set the limits for the government” on the immigration issue.

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Illegal Immigrants Ousted From Haven

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