Town Mayor and Five Residents Acquitted in Trial Over Illegal Eviction of Roma in Villeron, France
24 July 2025
Sophie Zhang
The mayor of Villeron and five residents who forcibly expelled Romani families from their makeshift homes were declared not guilty in the trial that took place on June 23 before the Criminal Court of Pontoise.
The Romani families first arrived in Villeron and began building informal homes in the wooded area by the town in September 2022. Although an expulsion procedure was already underway, the residents of Villeron decided to circumvent the civil justice system by organizing a demonstration aimed at forcibly removing the Romani families—totaling around 150 people—from their homes. On February 5, 2023, more than 200 villagers joined the violent protest. The protesters threw stones, physically intimidated the families, and shouted threats: chants such as “parasites,” “out with the Roma,” and “we’ll burn it all down” were reported by journalists on the scene.
When asked by a gendarme to tell his constituents to turn back, the mayor replied: “It’s a wave, we’re not going to stop it, they need to blow off some steam.” The mayor, who claimed that he ordered the destruction of the camp for “safety reasons,” called in an excavator to dig a trench that would prevent the Roma families from returning. The excavator was also used to demolish the makeshift homes.
The defendants were tried for “violence committed on the grounds of race or ethnicity” and “threats, coercion, or violence to force a person to leave their residence.” The Pontoise judicial court stated, however, that their role was not to pass a moral judgement on the events but to assess whether the alleged offenses had been proven, therefore acquitting the six defendants. As Estelle Ribes from the Collectif National Droits de l'Homme (CNDH) Romeurope emphasizes, even during the hearing, there was a lack of compassion for the victims, and no one expressed concern for their fate following the eviction. In light of the verdict, she stated to the European Roma Rights Centre that the CNDH Romeurope “will continue to raise awareness of these types of incidents and to take action: supporting people to file complaints, continuing to engage with public authorities, and educating and training stakeholders on antigypsyism.”
The associations that joined the case as civil parties—La Voix des Rroms, the Mouvement contre le Racisme et pour l'Amitié entre les Peuples (MRAP), the Fondation pour le logement, and CNDH Romeurope—argued that the mayor played a key role in the illegal eviction. They highlight the many racist statements the mayor has written about Roma in the municipal newsletter. Such statements reinforce widespread antigypsyism that has tangible consequences for Romani people in France. Racist hate speech, especially by influential politicians, promotes intolerance and creates an environment that facilitates acts of violence against Travellers and Roma. According to the most recent report on France from the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance published in 2022, Travellers and Roma are still the least tolerated group in France, and they are frequently subject to evictions. Recently, for instance, an eviction order has been issued for the largest Roma camp in Toulouse, which will result in the expulsion of hundreds of Romani families who have lived there for 19 years.
France has long faced criticism for its systematic eviction of Romani communities. Ethnically targeted evictions create destructive cycles of displacement for Romani people. Forced evictions—often labeled as “evacuations”—frequently involve unjustified violent tactics such as the use of tear gas and the destruction of personal belongings. The pattern of frequent evictions with improper rehousing options has left many Romani families “living from expulsion to expulsion.” Moreover, forced evictions have devastating impacts on the schooling of Romani children, efforts to provide basic healthcare to Romani communities, and the ability to maintain stable employment. The cycle of eviction without ensuring adequate rehousing options entrenches many Romani families in homelessness and deep poverty.
The number of annual evictions in France has more than doubled in the last ten years: in 2024, 24,000 households were evicted from their homes. As eviction prevention grows more urgent, so too does the need to address the disproportionate effects of racially targeted and illegal evictions on Romani communities.
The Villeron case, in allowing the triumph of an anti-Roma demonstration over the rule of law, demonstrates a failure of the justice system to uphold equal protection under the law and hold perpetrators of violence accountable. Saimir Mile from La Voix des Rroms had hoped the trial would expose the workings of antigypsyism that targets the rule of law. Instead, he says, the entire course of the case “shows that it is state antigypsyism that prevailed over the law through a biased application.”
The municipality is responsible for ensuring equal application of the Republic’s laws. As Estelle Ribes from CNDH Romeurope notes, “this verdict fails to acknowledge the responsibility of a local representative of the Republic, and this sends a disappointing and even harmful message to those directly impacted and to the associations supporting them.” The Villeron case is not an isolated issue. Institutional antigypsyism and illegal evictions continue to undermine Roma’s fundamental right to housing—a right that must be guaranteed to everyone.
Quotes in this article are translated from French.
