"This legal decision is a failure to me. It is always a failure when you cannot understand each other, and we failed". These are the words with which the bishop of Evry, mgr. Dubost, in an open letter, comments the expulsion, decided last week by the Tribunal, of the about 500 illegal immigrants who since April 21st this year had occupied the church of Saint-Paul of Massy to ask that their status be legally recognised. The bishop explains in his letter all the steps the parishioners took to solve the situation peacefully. A committee had even been set up to mediate between the immigrants and the authorities. But it was pointless, so the Tribunal had to eventually step in. According to the bishop, this proves that a "strong political action" is needed, inspired to "rigour, honesty" but also to the "respect of human rights". "As a Church he writes , I want to fight against what seems to me to be an attack against human rights: family reunion is a right; refusing to have a DNA test is a right. A quick handling of the case is a right. The frequency of police inspections and permanent suspicion are not acceptable: the action taken in Massy by the illegal migrants must question the government on the limits of its policy".
