Romani people in France, generally known in spoken French as gitans, tsiganes or manouches, are an ethnic group that originated in Northern India. Exact numbers of Romani people in France are unknown—estimates vary from 20,000 to 400,000. According to these estimates, at least 12,000 Romani live in unofficial urban camps throughout the country, with French authorities often attempting to close them.
Origin
The Romani people originated in NorthernIndia, presumably from the northwestern Indian states Rajasthan and Punjab. The linguistic evidence has indisputably shown that roots of Romani language lie in India: the language has grammatical characteristics of Indian languages and shares with them a large part of the basic lexicon, for example, body parts or daily routines. More exactly, Romani shares the basic lexicon with Hindi and Punjabi. It shares many phonetic features with Marwari, while its grammar is closest to Bengali. Genetic findings in 2012 suggest the Romani originated in northwestern India and migrated as a group. According to a genetic study in 2012, the ancestors of present scheduled tribes and scheduled caste populations of northern India, traditionally referred to collectively as the Ḍoma, are the likely ancestral populations of modern European Roma.
Population
In France the Romani people are typically classified into three groups:
"Roms", referring to Romani who come from territories from eastern Europe
"Manouches", also known as "Sinté", who often have familial ties in Germany and Italy
The term "Romanichel" is considered pejorative, and "Bohémien" is outdated. The French National Gendarmerie referred to them in an ethnic database by the acronym "MENS", an administrative term meaning "Travelling Ethnic Minorities". However this denomination is not widely spread, since this ethnic database was secret. The exact numbers of Romani people in France are not known, with estimates varying from 20,000 to 400,000. The French Romani rights groupFNASAT reports that at least 12,000 Romani, who have immigrated from Romania and Bulgaria, live in unofficial urban camps throughout the country. French authorities often attempt to close down these encampments. In 2009, the government sent more than 10,000 Romani back to Romania and Bulgaria. In 2009, the European Committee of Social Rights found France had violated the European Social Charter in respect to Romani population from foreign countries.
Repatriations
In 2010 and 2011, the French government organized repatriation flights to send French Romani to Romania. On 12 April, a chartered flight carrying 160 Romani left northern France for Timișoara. As in the 2010 deportations, the French government gave those Romani leaving France €300 each, with €100 for each child. The Romani on the 12 April flight were forced to sign declarations that they would never return to France. On 9 August, the city ofMarseille in southern France forcibly evicted 100 Romani people from a makeshift camp near Porte d'Aix, giving them 24 hours to leave. A chartered flight carrying approximately 150 Romani to Romania left the Lyon area on 20 September. France's goal for 2011 was to deport 30,000 Romani to Romania. As of 2012, France sent about 8,000 Romani to Romania and Bulgaria in 2011, after dismantling camps where they were living on the outskirts of cities. The actions prompted controversy and calls for greater inclusion of Romani people.
Racism
Prejudiced views of Romani are widespread in France, with a 2014 Pew Research poll indicating that two-thirds of French people have unfavorable views of Romani. According to a report published by the Human Rights League of France and the European Roma Rights Centre, 60 percent of all Romani living in France were forcibly evicted from their homes in 2016, many in cold winter months. Rumors and fake news stories of a white van occupied by Romani attempting to abduct children or young women have spread across the French internet on multiple occasions. A number of violent incidents against Romani occurred in March 2019 after rumors of Romani kidnapping children spread on Facebook and Snapchat. Two people in a white van were attacked by 20 youths in Colombes on March 16. On 25 March, 50 people attacked a Roma camp in Bobigny with sticks and knives, burning several vans, and a separate group of Romani were chased and attacked in Clichy-sous-Bois. Similar incidents occurred in Aubervilliers, Bondy and Noisy-le-Sec.
