After two fatal incidents, President of France Nicolas Sarkozy vowed in July 2010 to evict at least half of the 539 Roma squatting in land camps.
[5] This then meant that although Bulgarian and Romanian citizens have the right to enter France without a visa because their countries of origin are in the European Union, under special French immigration regulations, they must have work or residency permits if they wish to stay longer than three months.
In retaliation, a group of around 50 people variously identified as Roma or travellers rioted in the small village of Saint-Aignan, attacking the police station with axes and iron bars.
Boudouda was alleged to have been involved in a robbery at a casino near Grenoble and prosecutor Jean Philippe claimed the police acted in self defence after being fired on three times.
[12] The office of the president stated that local unauthorised camps were "sources of illegal trafficking, of profoundly shocking living standards, of exploitation of children for begging, of prostitution and crime".
[6] Der Spiegel deemed this to come amidst efforts by the President's allies aimed at "keeping the issue of domestic security high on the political agenda.
The state provided both financial incentives (€300 in cash per person with €100 for each child) and special flights back to Romania and Bulgaria.
[2][15] The French government claimed it was expelling people on legal rather than ethnic grounds, but the order mentioned Romani camps specifically ("en priorité ceux des Roms").
[16] Sarkozy stated that his government had been unaware of the directive in question, which had been signed by Mr Michel Bart, the Chief of Staff of the French Minister of the Interior.
[17][18] The president of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso gave a speech widely interpreted as a criticism of the French policy on 6 September 2010.
[20] Later in the week, EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding called the expulsions "a disgrace", stating in a briefing on 14 September 2010 that "This is a situation I had thought Europe would not have to witness again after the Second World War".
[23] Nicolas Sarkozy criticised Reding's remarks, saying "The disgusting and shameful words that were used – World War II, the evocation of the Jews – was something that shocked us deeply".
[4] In response to Mr Sarkozy's suggestion that Luxembourg could accommodate the expelled Romani, its Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said he found the statement "malevolent".
"[23] At the meeting, President Barroso distanced himself from Reding's comments, but affirmed that "The prohibition of discrimination based on racial and ethnic origin is one of the EU's fundamental principles.
[35] The European Commission pressed the governments of the member states to put in place national strategies and concrete plans for the integration of Romani people and to report on their implementation annually.
[36] In August 2012 Viviane Reding put the action of the French socialist government of Jean-Marc Ayrault and his minister of the interior Manuel Valls under scrutiny regarding alleged expulsions of Romani people.
[45] On 9 August 2011, the city of Marseille in southern France forcibly evicted 100 Romani people from their makeshift camp near Porte d'Aix, giving them 24 hours to leave.