Call for end of Roma purge

The European Parliament yesterday called on France to suspend its expulsion of Roma.

The rare criticism of a European member state was backed by 337 politicians meeting in Strasbourg with 245 opposed and 51 abstentions.

France has stepped up its long-standing policy of rounding up Eastern European gypsies, or Roma, and sending them home. Officials have dismantled more than 100 illegal camps and expelled hundreds of Roma, mostly to Romania and Bulgaria.

President Nicolas Sarkozy's policy has drawn criticism from the United Nations and Catholic Church. Many at the EU parliament accused Paris of ignoring human rights.

The move came as Italian police removed a gypsy camp in Rome yesterday.