20.6.2014, The Telegraph – France accused of allowing ‘toxic atmosphere’ after Roma teenager beating

The French government looks set to continue its controversial policies towards the country’s Roma community, despite growing criticism that they have created a “toxic atmosphere” which may have led to the savage lynching of a Roma teenager.

“There is a toxic atmosphere in France at the moment, going right up to government level, which allows anti-Roma speech and behaviour. This violent attack against a young Roma boy is partly the tragic outcome of this,” said Violeta Naydenova of the Open Society Foundations.

The 16-year-old boy, Darius, was still in a coma between life and death one week after being dragged from the squalid camp where he and his family lived, beaten to a pulp and dumped in a supermarket trolley. He is being guarded by two police officers in the Paris hospital treating him.