46 Europe and Central Asia Summary of Amnesty International’s Concerns in the Region, January – June 2007 Lorette, Arras, were defaced with Nazi inscriptions. On 21 April 180 graves in the Havre cemetery, approximately a quarter of which were of Jewish individuals, were defaced. In both cases suspects were arrested and criminal investigations were underway at the end of the period under review. Representatives of the Roma community wrote open letters in March to the candidates running in the French presidential elections, demanding the abrogation of certain articles of the 2003 law on internal security and the 2007 crime prevention law, claiming that they discriminated against Roma and other travelling communities. The 2003 law made the illegal parking of caravans, which had previously been a civil offence, a criminal offence, punishable by up to six months’ in prison, a 3,750 euro fine, seizure of the vehicle and suspension of a driving licence. The 2007 law allows the eviction of all vehicles from a caravan site on the orders of a local Prefect following instruction from the mayor. All other forms of eviction, including of squatters, require a court order. Community representatives also highlighted the lack of suitably equipped caravan sites. Under the Besson law of July 2000, 40,000 new and fully equipped sites were supposed to be created by the end of 2004, of which only 10,500 are said to have been created to date. Policing concerns In January residents of the Roma camp at Saint-Denis alleged they were treated in a violent and degrading manner during a police search of the campsite which took place early in the morning of 5 January. During the incident residents, including children, were allegedly forced from their beds and made to lie on the ground outside in their nightclothes, threatened with beating and photographed in humiliating positions. It is alleged that a police officer also aimed his gun at a child’s head. The non-governmental organization Parada, which works with Roma children, together with the mayor of Saint-Denis and the local Amnesty International member of parliament demanded the opening of an enquiry into the incident. The case was referred to the National Commission on Ethics and Security (Commission nationale de déontologie de la sécurité, CNDS) on 10 January. However, the residents did not make a criminal complaint to the police, as they were afraid of the possible consequences. On 9 January the regional director of the judicial police announced that they would be presenting a complaint of defamation against those who had claimed ill-treatment. On 8 February the judicial investigation into the death of two young men who died in October 2005 while hiding from police in a power transformer in Clichy-sous-Bois was closed. The investigating judge has brought charges against two of the police officers involved, for failing to assist persons in danger. The death of the two young men was the catalyst of a period of rioting in France in early November 2005. The police trade union (Syndicat Général de la Police, SGP) and then Minister of Interior Nicolas Sarkozy have rejected all allegations of police responsibility for the deaths, claiming that it was “unjust and disproportionate” to blame the police. To date, neither the Minister nor the police hierarchy have sought to suspend the officers from duty. A report by the OND published on 2 March reported that the number of complaints of unjustified police violence investigated by the Parisian and national police inspectorates in 2004 had increased by 18.5% over the previous year. This made 2004 the seventh consecutive year to show an increase in such complaints. More than 80% of the complaints relate to incidents that have occurred in the Paris area including Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-SaintDenis and Val-de-Marne. Over the past eight years the number of complaints made by police officers alleging assaults on their physical integrity has increased by a total of 72%. The CNDS published its annual report on 8 March. It noted an increase of 25% in the number of complaints against law enforcement officers it had received in 2006 AI Index: EUR 01/010/2007