Police Remove Immigrant Protesters From Paris Church

In a rain of tear gas, French riot police stormed into a Paris church Friday and hauled away 300 illegal African immigrants whose push to stay in France has captivated--and divided--the nation.

Helmeted security forces waded through a human wall of sympathizers surrounding the St. Bernard Church in northern Paris. They took hatchets to the church doors and broke through a barricade of chairs and pews.

The government’s abrupt show of force to end the occupation followed an embarrassing summer-long standoff with the Africans, who are without legal residence papers.

The Africans’ demand for papers--and the government’s refusal to relent--came to symbolize France’s dilemma over its 250,000 to 600,000 illegal immigrants, some of whom have lived in France for years. President Jacques Chirac came to power in May 1995 partly by promising to do something about it.

Ten of the immigrants were in their 50th day of a hunger strike. Most were removed from the church on stretchers; they vowed to continue their fight to the death.

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Astonishment at the raid gave way to rage in the heavily immigrant suburbs ringing Paris and in the French capital itself, where about 5,000 people marched down Boulevard Voltaire on Friday evening behind a banner reading, “Papers for All.”

Some wore blackface to demonstrate solidarity with the Africans.

“It’s too brutal, what the government has done,” said Jean Gastine, a 63-year-old retired man born in North Africa. “We’re all immigrants.”

The government is preparing to deport most of the Africans, possibly as early as today.