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Some Roma people tried to negotiate with Deputy Police Prefect M. Yann Drouet to make the authorities respect the deadline given by the court. The negotiations were fruitless and the Prefecture’s decision to evict them was final. Police officers then escorted the Roma back into the settlement to retrieve their personal belongings. Other officers blocked the entrances to the settlement to prevent families returning to their homes.

The families were allowed back into the settlement through one entry point manned by policemen, security guards and a dog. Only one member of each family was permitted to enter to retrieve their personal belongings. As a consequence families could only get their essentials: clothes, documents, medicines. People had to struggle to carry heavy loads for hundreds of meters as all the other entrances were blocked by police officers.

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