French officials have voiced disgust after the mayor of a Paris suburb reportedly refused to allow a dead Roma baby to be buried in the municipal cemetery; the mayor has denied the claims.
Christian Leclerc, the conservative mayor of Champlan, about 23 kilometres south of Paris, reportedly explained his refusal on the grounds that the cemetery has "few available plots".
"Priority is given to those who pay their local taxes," Leclerc was quoted as saying by Le Parisien daily on Saturday.
However, amid uproar in France over the incident, Leclerc told AFP on Sunday his words had been "taken out of context" and he had been a victim of the "wrong interpretation".
"At no stage was I opposed to this burial. It's been blown out of proportion," he said.
Leclerc said he was "really sorry" that the story had become such big news and that he would offer his condolences to the family.
Before the denial, Laurence Rossignol, a junior government minister for the family, said on Twitter the refusal was "an inhumane humiliation" for the family, adding the hashtag #honte or "shame".
And France's defender of human rights, Jacques Toubon, said he was "shocked, stunned by the news".
The baby, identified only as Maria Francesca, was born on October 14 and died in the early hours of December 26.
The family asked a burial firm in Corbeil-Essonnes to request permission from the authorities to lay the infant to rest but, according to the firm's manager Julien Guenzi, the mayor refused "without explanation".
Leclerc told AFP: "There was a choice between Corbeil and Champlan. I agreed on Wednesday morning to either scenario. I have a text message proving this."
The mayor of Wissous, a few kilometres away, has since offered to host the burial, saying it was a "a question of humanity".
The child's parents are Romanian natives in their mid-30s who have lived in France for at least eight years, according to supporters.
They have two boys, aged five and nine, who are attending school in Champlan.
The family lives on the outskirts of Champlan in a makeshift settlement without electricity or running water, near a factory and very close to Paris's Orly Airport.
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