Police prepare to evacuate rundown buildings

Police were today preparing to evacuate Paris’ most dilapidated apartment buildings and squats, a response to three deadly fires that killed 48 African immigrants in recent months.

Paris police headquarters launched the emergency measures yesterday, hours after seven Africans – including four children – died as flames tore through a squat in the heart of the capital. One six-year-old victim died after his desperate mother threw him from a fifth-floor window.