A circular letter by the French Ministry of Interior quoted by Le Canard Social and the New York Times has revealed that French authorities are specifically targeting Roma in their ousting campaign, something they have staunchly denied.

The French government has this far consistently insisted that its campaign targets no ethnic group in particular, but simply tries to eradicate crime, remove illegal residents and preserve security.

According to information by the NYTimes, French authorities have this far not commented on the document, but have not disproved its authenticity.

The reported document, addressed from the French Minister of Interior Brice Hortefeux to the heads of the whole police authority in France states:

"The President of the Republic has fixed on July 28 concrete objectives for the evacuation of illegal camps: 300 illegal camps or settlements have to be evacuated by 3 months, with priority those of the Roma" [...]

"It is therefore the responsibility of prefects in each department to engage, on the basis of the state of the situation of July 21-23, in a systematic procedure of dismantlement of illegal camps, with priority those of Roma."

The letter makes several other explicit references to Roma people. All of them follow translated into English.

"Furthermore, it is evident that it is advisable to prevent the creation of new illegal Roma camps. In the case of a starting of building of such camps, you must put into work everything possible to oppose it and, within the bounds of legislation in force, to avoid all perpetuation of this activity."

The document goes on to refer to other documents detailing the presence of Roma camps in specific over French territory.

The end of the letter once more reiterates that Roma camps are priority:

"...the local prefects will ensure for their zone of competence that at least one important operation per week is carried out (evacuation, dismantlement, sending back), which will involve Roma as a priority."

The document is signed by the Director of the Cabinet of the French Minister of Interior Brice Hortefeux, Michel Bart, in his capacity of signing documents in lieu of the minister.