Migrants storm Paris Pantheon demanding papers and free housing
Hundreds of migrants including 'Black Vests' group break into the Pantheon in Paris.
Hundreds of migrants and others associated with the so-called 'Black Vests' group stormed the Pantheon in Paris demanding the French state grant them residency papers and free housing.
The incident took place on Friday afternoon and saw the protesters chant various slogans demanding that the government of French president Emmanuel Macron acquiesce to their demands.
The group La Chapelle Debout! took to Twitter to take responsibility for the incident and demanded a meeting with French prime minister Edouard Philippe, writing, 'papers and freedom for all!'
It is claimed that as many as 200 to 300 protesters took part, that most were illegal migrants from West Africa and that protestors managed to break into the Left Bank Mausoleum where various noted historical French men and women are buried.
Populist National Rally (Rassemblement National) leader Marine Le Pen reacted to the protests with outrage on Twitter, saying, 'It is INADMISSIBLE to see illegal immigrants claiming to occupy, with impunity, this high place of the Republic that is the Panthéon.'
'In France, the only future for an illegal immigrant should be deportation, because it is the LAW,' she added.
This protest comes only months after another protest involving La Chapelle Debout and the 'Black Vests' at Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris, which saw hundreds of migrants occupy the airport chanting, 'France does not belong to the French! Everyone has a right to be here!'
The migrants also demanded France’s national airline Air France 'stop any financial, material, logistical or political participation in deportations.'
The protests come after France has seen two years in a row of record-breaking numbers for asylum claims. Recent reports suggest that the continued influx is putting an enormous strain on the French administration.
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