The dead baby of a Roma family at the centre of a racism row in France has finally been laid to rest with just close family present.
The tiny white coffin was buried in a cemetery in Wissous, south of Paris, on Monday after a religious ceremony attended by 100 or so people, including representatives from the Roma community.
The tragic death of the two-and-a-half-month-old baby hit the headlines over the weekend after the local town refused them a burial plot, with the mayor reportedly saying priority should be given to taxpayers.
The mayor, Christian Leclerc, has since strenuously denied this, saying he had been a victim of a misunderstanding.
With fury mounting and even the prime minister describing the refusal as an "insult" to France, Leclerc offered his condolences to the family and said they could bury the baby in his town of Champlan.
However, the family refused his offer.
The mayor of Wissous, a few kilometres away, had offered to host the burial, saying it was "a question of humanity".
According to Csilla Ducrocq, a member of the ASEFRR association that helps Roma, the mother "says that her heart has been ripped out" by the baby's death on December 26.
"But she has nothing to say about the mayor. Just that she doesn't understand," Ducrocq said.
Others, however, have had plenty to say, with Leclerc accused of racism and the case highlighting France's tense relationship with the Roma, most of whom come from Eastern Europe.
The burial row came as it emerged that another two-month-old Roma baby died in a shack near the train station of the northern city Lille amid freezing temperatures on Thursday.
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