The mayor of a Paris suburb was accused Saturday of racism following his refusal to allow a Roma baby to be buried in the municipal cemetery.
Christian Leclerc, the conservative mayor of Champlan, about 23 kilometres south of Paris, has explained his refusal on the grounds that the cemetery has "few available plots". Critics, however, believe his decision to refuse the nearly three-month-old girl a final resting place was motivated by anti-Roma sentiment. "It's racism, xenophobia, and stigmatisation," said Loic Gandais, president of an association helping Roma families in the region. Gandais accused Leclerc of hiding behind the fact that the baby, identified only as Maria Francesca, was pronounced dead in another town.The child was rushed to hospital on December 26 in nearby Corbeil-Essonnes, where she was declared dead from sudden infant death syndrome.
Val says for two days I have stopped myself reporting this story, in my mind too political but then on the news on TV this morning and one of the top stories in all the French newspapers I felt it my duty to report it. I do not need to give my take on the story, you now how I will feel.
