'You're not like us. Go home': French minister sparks Roma row

[muriel_volestrangler]

Interior Minister Manuel Valls on Wednesday insisted he stood by a controversial call for tens of thousands of ethnic Roma to be kicked out of France.

Valls has triggered an outcry from human rights groups, the European Commission and some of his government colleagues by saying any Roma not working should be "delivered back to the borders", describing their way of life as "extremely different from ours," and claiming they will never integrate into French society.

The latter remark earned the minister a rebuke from his cabinet colleague, Arnaud Montebourg, who pointedly alluded to Valls' own status as the Barcelona-born son of Spanish immigrants who left for France during Franco's dictatorship.

"A theory that such and such a person or such and such a people will never, ever be able to integrate just doesn't stand up," Montebourg said.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/130925/youre-not-us-go-home-french-minister-sparks-roma-row

[DonCoquixote]

1. France, you should know better

I mean, don;t you realize how American this sounds?