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French Roma gypsies block major motorway to Calais with burning tyres

Protest aimed at getting prisoner, whose father was among those killed in Roma camp earlier this week, released for funeral.

La rédaction de Mediapart

This article is freely available.

Scores of Roma gypsies blocked a French motorway with burning tyres in order to force the release of an imprisoned man so he could attend his father’s funeral, reports The Independent.

Dramatic pictures from the northern French city of Roye showed as many as 60 people clustered about blazing fires of tyres and branches on Friday night.

The closure of the A1 motorway, which runs to Calais, has also brought misery for British tourists travelling to the port en route home.

Demonstrators demanded that local authorities release a 26-year-old man in order he can attend the funeral of his father, killed four days ago by a gunman in a Roma camp.

Read more of this report from The Independent.