SBS Dateline | The Unwanted

Just a few kilometres from the gleaming centre of Paris, live some of France’s 400,000 Roma people, or gypsies, but for how much longer?

French President Nicolas Sarkozy wants to clear them off the streets and out of the country – they’re being forcibly removed from their illegal campsites and paid to return to their native Romania or Bulgaria.

But the move has prompted worldwide criticism and accusations of ethnic cleansing.

95% of them hold French citizenship, but are excluded from working and claiming benefits, and they ask where they’re supposed to go and how they’re supposed to survive.

Filmmaker Alexis Monchovet has been out on the streets of Paris to capture their struggle against poverty and persecution, in a story narrated by Victoria Strobl.

WATCH - Click to see this story.

SBS RADIO - Listen to a report from SBS Radio about the Roma population in Europe and Australia.

Photo (Nicolas Sarkozy): AAP