French police ‘assault migrants’ on camera

A video showing pregnant African mothers and babies being dragged along the ground by police today sparked outrage across France.

The footage from the Seine-Saint-Denis district north of Paris features an officer manhandling a screaming woman with a baby on her back. There is also an image of a pregnant woman lying on her back in the road.

Droit au Logement (Right to Housing), said the protesters were mainly legal migrants from the Ivory Coast. "They were subjected to disgusting police brutality," he said. "When mothers and babies are being attacked in this way, immigrants do not stand a chance."

A spokesman for Seine-Saint-Denis police said "no police brutality took place during the break up of an illegal demonstration".

President Nicolas Sarkozy wants to deport thousands of illegal immigrants, including gipsies and foreign criminals. Last week he vowed to strip immigrants of their passports if they attack police or public officials.

He also sanctioned the tearing down of illegal gipsy camps and promised a review of all welfare payments to migrants.

Michel Tubiana of the French Human Rights League said Mr Sarkozy was "deliberately stirring up hatred against foreigners".