FRANCE expelled scores of Roma, packing them on planes and flying them back to Romania yesterday at the start of a crackdown ordered by President Nicolas Sarkozy which has drawn strong criticism.

I AM writing to the Hugarian ambassador to Ireland and the ministers for European and Foreign Affairs on behalf of the Irish Traveller Movement in response to the most recent example of another death as a result of anti-Roma violence in Hungary.

Italy’s top opposition leader today denounced attacks on Gypsy camps, as Premier Silvio Berlusconi’s new government prepared a crackdown on immigration and the European Parliament agreed to a debate on how Gypsies are treated in Italy.